


Sat in the Ashes

by Otterman_Empire



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, F/M, Fluffy, Goodneighbor (Fallout), Graphic Description, I just love Magnolia, Ill add to tags as needed, John Hancock (Fallout) - Freeform, MacCready POV, Multi, My First Work, Preston is the General AU, Reader Insert, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Sole Survivor appears before the castle is taken back but settlements are established, Sole will meet MacCready later on, Unhappy marriage, Violence, and if you comment that you had to skip it I can write you a summary, but its only a one night stand, currently chapter 9 has the worst violence but you can skip it once she swings at him, john hancock - Freeform, probably no smut, reader POV, so now shes here, tagging is hard, unsaid romance, we love comments btw, we'll still get our favorite ratman
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-18 07:54:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 24,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21540931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Otterman_Empire/pseuds/Otterman_Empire
Summary: Riona was sent home after Anchorage when she found out she was with child, returning to an unhappy marriage only held together by the prospect of a child. When things started to fall through she woke to the horrific scene of her child being stolen, now lost and confused Riona seeks out her child in this new world.
Relationships: Magnolia/Female Sole Survivor, Magnolia/Sole Survivor (Fallout), Robert Joseph MacCready/Female Sole Survivor, Robert Joseph MacCready/Original Character(s), Robert Joseph MacCready/Original Female Character(s), Robert Joseph MacCready/Reader, Robert Joseph MacCready/Sole Survivor
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11





	1. Lost and bloody hands

**Author's Note:**

> This Is my first work, I hope yall like it and I look forward to getting feedback or suggestions!

Riona had been in a loveless marriage, held together only by a child that she wasn't excited for. She had been sent home from her post in the army after having discovered she was with child, and while she loved her child now it was after time that she got over her resentment of it. 

Her husband Nate was a lawyer and was known to twist most things anyone said against them, not even excluding his own wife. Which only became worse after Riona came home from Anchorage, she had become restless and unable to remain asleep, often times she could be found on their couch in the company of their Mr Handy, Codsworth and a needle point softly keeping conversation with her swollen stomach or Codsworth. It was during one of these late nights that she had gone into labor. 

After the birth of their son Shaun Riona sectured her family a spot in the vault up on the hill, having gained a spot from her notoriety. And while she resented the thought of being underground she understood the stalemate wasn't going to last much longer and it was the safest course of action. 

So when she woke up in an uncomfortably tight suit and trapped in an even tighter pod, she flew into a near panic, only pulled to semi lucidity when a figure completely concealed in white pushed its face into her vision, it slowly backed up after gesturing a figure not in sight. She caught sight Nate holding her baby across from her, he too was slowly waking. His pod opened and a mercenary tried to take shaun from him. Riona thrashed, slamming her fist against the glass of her own pod screaming. 

“Nate! Don't let them take him! Nate No! Shaun get Shaun. Damn you! Save him! Please” she was near tears, hand bloodied, the glass had a red glare, and she felt sick. Nate almost had him back when the mercenary pulled back, exasperated and brought a pistol to Nate's forehead. He froze, Shaun was taken from him and a bullet bit into him, slumping. The mercenary kicked him back into his pod and shut it, turning to Riona, her child in his hand he waved him in front of her like one would do with a bone to a dog. He leaned forward towards her, hand wavering over the controls for her pod, she faintly heard Shaun crying, and the bloodchilling, sandpaper rough word. 

“Reassurance”, it went dark. 

When Riona woke again her head was pounding and she felt terribly ill. Her pod opened  and she fell onto her knees, bloody hands landing in front of her as she expelled the contents of her stomach on to the cold metal below her, she pulled at the suit that was encased in as she tried to breathe, she rolled away from the sick on the ground on to her back and screamed when she caught sight of Nate, forever frozen in pure terror and the sight of the gun that had killed him. 

When she got control of herself she searched this frozen hell, collecting a 10mm and a baton. She fought her way to the outside, and screamed a curse at having been tricked by vault tec. She collapsed in a sob, mourning the loss of her child. 

Riona couldn't recall how long she sat there, the events that had woken her in the first time replaying endlessly, cursing that it hadn't been her with Shaun in the pod. She snapped out of her wallowing when she heard something snap behind her. Immediately she had leveled the 10mm o what appeared to be a historical reenactor. 

“Woah! Hold up, its okay Im not here to hurt you.” He had his hands raised, a laser rifle strapped on him. He had a kind face that was marred with scars. 

“Who are you? Why are you dressed like that? What do you want” Riona voice was scratchy, torn up from yelling, her suit was covered in muck from killing oversized roaches. Her white hair was slightly matted, haven falled out of her bun when she first entered the vault, her hands still bloodied in her own and roach blood. She hasn't lowered her pistol. 

The man took another step forward, moving his hands towards his pack, Riona shot at the ground near his feet before he pulled out the can of water, that now tumbled to the ground. 

“Don't move! Answer me!” Riona was exhausted, confused and impatient. “Now!” 

The man immediately brought his hands above his head. 

“My name is Preston Garvey, Im the current general of the Minutemen, we heard you yelling and I came up to check out what was going on. You’ve never heard of the minutemen?” Preston rushed out quickly, warrie of half manic woman. “Suppose you haven't have you? You a vaultie?” 

Riona just shook her head, she had no idea what was happening anymore. 

“Vautie? Uh I suppose so, the Minutemen? Like revolutionary war minutemen?” 

“Yes ma’am, though not as old, but never mind that. What are you doing up here? Where is everyone else from your vault?” 

Riona paused, and let her pistol drop, she looked down and shook her head. 

“You have somewhere safe to be?” she ignored his question, pointedly not looking at him anymore favoring the numbers 111 on the elevator plate they stood on. Preston decided not to push the question after having another look at her. 

They did in fact have a safe place to reside in, sanctuary hills was well established, walls surrounding the development, foundation of old homes had large wooden structures on them. Small farms had popped up behind and in between houses and defences seemed to be built well. Preston had led her to what looked like the main house. An old woman sat in a chair on the porch.

“ knew you would come, the blue angel is here. Welcome home.” she croaked, she seemed drug addled, Preston made a face. 

“Mama Murphy I thought I told you to stop with the jet.” Preston scrolled the old woman, who nonchalantly looked away mumbling something about sight. Riona was immediately put off by this woman, Preston looked down at Riona motioning her inside apologizing for Mama Murphy. Once they had entered a Mr Handy turned around, stopping mid sentence complaining about how hard it was to keep the place clean when he broke with a 

“Mum! You’re finally home! It's been a terribly long time!” Codsworth bumped into her and tried fussing with her hair before she pushed him back. “Where is Mr Nate and the young lad? I've kept your home up for you” 

Riona took a step back looking at the ground, “they're gone.” she turned to Preston. “Sorry for the inconvenience, thank you for helping me but i'll be going now.” She stepped out of the house rushing across the street to the creaking house, that still had the decorations for halloween up, rushing inside to find the place had been kept and clean and homely as one Mr Handy could do. She ran into Shaun's room, dropping down at the foot of his crib clutching one of the many stuffed toys that littered his room. 

She was sobbing again. 


	2. A new chapter

Riona woke up crouched over a stuffed bear, it was dark in the room save for the slight glow of Codsworth who floated silently nearby. She sat up to take a better look at the room. When it was first build she had painted a starscape on the ceiling and walls, his crib had space sheets and a pillow that she had cross stitch a red rocket on, Nate had even put a rocket mobile on for him. 

Now the the pants are faded and the structure of the building was patched up, the room seemed to be filled with games and toys they previously haunted owned. Standing to look at the crib, she noticed the mobile was surprisingly intact, and she found the pillow she had made slightly roughed up but present. 

“I tried to keep the house up Mum, I never let them in.” Codsworth’s voice sounded surprisingly somber, he bumped into her again. She patted one of his arms and set out of the room to wander the rest of the house. It was surprisingly clean and rebuilt compared to the other houses she recalled from yesterday. The couch had a box sitting on it from where she had last left it over 200 years ago, the machinery in the kitchen no longer seemed to work but the counters had been cleaned and the table was set with mismatched and slightly cracked dinnerware. The laundry room had clothes folded but the machines were also broken. Riona wandered into the bedroom that she had once shared, 

She went immediately to her closest to the safe on the ground, pulling out a AER9 Laser pistol and some cells dumping them onto the bed behind her. She turned back to the closet itself unzipping a leather dress bag pulling out her old ocps tucking her dress uniform back into the bag. 

“Does the water still work?” her voice was still strachy, and thick. 

“Its doesn'' t Mum, but I can get you water for a bath if you’d like Mum.” Codsworth glided off after she nodded back at him. She bent down in the closet and pulled her boots out of the corner dropping those and a knife on the bed with her pistol before she wondered wordlessly to Nate's side of the room. She pulled a pip boy she found in the vault out of her bag that was dumped near the door. She found a tape that was addressed as Hi Honey, it was next to what looked like burn counseling books. She popped the tape into the pip boy and plopped body onto the bed sinking into the covers silent tears falling down her face. 

She must have a dozen off because she was woken up to Codsworth nudging her leg explaining to her that the tub was filled but wouldn't stay warm for a long time. She thanked him and moved silently over to the restroom, locking the door she stripped off the vault suit, half peeling it off her body from the grime. She pulled her hair down running her fingers through it trying to comb out the notes from her long white hair, she stepped into the tub sinking into it to the neck, her hair coming up in a ring around her. Riona noticed the soap left on the edge of the tub. 

When she was finished she towled herself off with a thread bare thing that Codsworth had left for her. She dressed in her camo bottoms and rolled the sleeves on her blouse before pulling on her boots, fixing her hair and strapping her weapons to her. She considered the pip boy that was left discarded on the bed tape half removed, riona picked it up and strapped it to her wrist, checking the time it was still late being about 0300. 

Riona stepped out of her bedroom to collect the small red rocket pillow bringing it back to the bed and curling up underneath the covers clutching the small pillow. 

“No more of this in the morning. I promise I'll find you Shaun.” She whispered harshly into the pillow, tears sliding down her cheeks as she sobbed, the Mr Handy cooed at her, patting her head then slipping out of the room to let her mourn. 

The sun rose through her window, pulling her from a fitful sleep. She slipped out of the house followed by Codsworth, she walked across the street to the main house of the settlement to find Mama Murphy was still sitting in her faded and thread bare chair. 

“You’re looking for your boy, I see him” her voice croaked, Riona turned towards her sharply, her voice was cold. 

“You don't know what you're talking about lady.” she snapped at her. But Mama Murphy just laughed. 

“They used to call me Murphy madwoman, it know what it's like.” she was shaking her head like an old tortoise. “You’ll find him if you go to Diamond City” Riona Sneered at her and in a near growl

“You don't know me.” and she moved inside the house looking for Preston. She found him leaned over papers at a desk in what looked like an old bedroom, it was the only place in the house that didn't seem to be storing anything. She leaned on the door frame and knocked. Preston startled bolting halfway out of his seat, taking notice to her he motioned for her to sit down. It was obvious that he didn't trust her. 

“What's your name?” he spoke solidly, breaking the near silent of the room, the sun was just barely rising, farmers started moving around the settlement, the night watch being swapped out. 

“My name is Riona.” It was short and curt answer, she settled in her chair. 

“What are you doing here Riona? Why come out of the vault? Why does Codsworth know who you are?” 

She looked away from him, then to her hands which was spinning a wedding band.

“We were frozen, they lied to us told us we’d be safe. Someone broke in, and stole my baby and left us there. I couldn't save anyone in there, dead in their own pods. I don't know how long its been, but the bombs. The sky had gone ablaze as we lowered into the vault. What it could of only been a few years right?” She looked up at him, slight distress on her stern face. He shook his head. 

“Codsworth was our Mr Handy, he was supposed to help Nate around the house while I was deployed and we ended up keeping him when I had Shaun.” 

Preston just nodded again like he was taking inventory of what was being said. 

“So you know your way around a gun then?” 

“Enough”


	3. The long road and the Flower

Riona has spent the last three months helping the Minutemen rebuild the commonwealth, she's acquired a good deal of new equipment, she's taken up a thick trench coat and a bandanna that matches the skull on her newest companion, an over sized German Shepard that was dubbed dogmeat. She's also carries a small armory on her at all times at this point, but her preferred weapon quickly became an electrified Chinese officer sword. Her rolled sleeve blouse was virtually destroyed after an unfortunate encounter with a flamer armed forge member, leaving her with a still pink burn across her chest licking up to her neck, and her undershirt hat managed to survive for the most part. 

She was currently headed out to a city called Goodneighbor, having taken up at as caravan guard set out from a weirdo town called the Covenant which she was all too happy to st out from, the people having been near obsessed with Synths, controlled by a faction called the Institute which seems to slowly become less of boogeyman and more of a thing. 

Riona picked up some of a reputation in the concord area as someone who'll help settlements and as someone who carries a half ton of junk around with them. But she’s collected a fair amount of caps killing raiders and selling scrap. 

It took them about a day to walk there with the lumbering Brahmin that the traders tended to use, Riona kept the rear for the caravan and was the first subjected to the giant rat creatures that burst up from the ground beneath the Brahmin sending it bolting. 

“Dogmeat!” she yelled the command to chase after the brahmin over the other guards yells of “Mole Rats!” 

A large molerat jumped up in an attempt to bite into Riona’s thigh but it met the pommel of her sword with a wet crotch as its skull collapse inwards, she turned her sword downwards sinking it into the side of a lunging rat flinging it bodily into another more mangy rat. It squealed as it received a shock cooking inside its wound. 

The molerats were quickly dispatched between her and the other guard, Riona took the moment to collect and clean the remnants of them for later as dogmeat trotted back with the reins of the Brahmin. 

It was evening when they arrived in a neon light filled version of Scollay square, the sky was a light in a warm orange and purple only accentuated by the faint glow of Goodneighbor itself. She broke from the caravan after taking her payment and walked through the front entrance of the town. 

“Hold up there. First time in Goodneighbor? Can’t go walking around without insurance” a man in a leather jacket walked up to Riona, lighting up a cigarette blowing the smoke towards her. 

“Hey why don't you back off buddy, before you're the one needing insurance, huh?” she threatened, lifting her sword up from her hip clicking on the battery connected to it. 

“Hmm? What was that couldn't hear you over all that false bravado, Why don't you hand over everything you got them in pockets or ‘accidents’ might just start happening?” he cracked his knuckles and flicked his cigarette at her. “Big bloody ‘accidents’, ya dig” 

She looked down at the cigarette still burning at her feet, she ground it into the cracked pavement.

“Oh yeah I’m tracking” she nearly swung the blade at him, when a ghoul stepped out of the alley between the state house on their left. 

“whoa , whoa, Time out.” he was dressed in similar period clothes that Preston wore, his was a dirty red overcoat on top of an even worst tunic. “Someone steps through the gate the first time, they are a guest. You lay off that extortion crap.” he strode over confidently. 

“What’d you care? She aint on us.” the gruff man snarked at the ghoul, turning completely away from Riona. 

“What no love for your mayor, Finn?” his voice took a quick downturn to that of a dangerous man “I said let em’ go” 

Finn scoffed at the mayor growing annoyed, Riona flicked off the battery on her sword and took a step back from the situation, obviously this ran deeper than she thought. 

“You’re soft Hancock. You keep letting outsiders walk all over us, one day there’ll be a new mayor. “ it surprised Riona when Hancock voice dropped to something closer to friendly and stepped toward Finn placing his hand on his shoulder, clasping him like one does to an old friend.

“Come on. Man. this is me we’re talkin about. Let me tell you something.” Hancock led forward and in a quick rush a knife was buried repeatedly into a double over Finn, who weekly collapsed to the ground. Hancock just looked down mournfully at his body “Now why’d you have to go and say that, huh/ Breaking my heart over here.” he looked up to Riona. “You all right, sister?”

She just stared in surprise, 

“You killed him.”

Hancock just laughed. “Got a good pair of eyes on ya, i think you'll fit in here. Goodneighbor of the people, for the people, you feel me? Everyone’s welcome.” 

Riona just nodded, looking down between Finn and Hancock

“yeah , I feel you” she shook her head still in minor shock at the actions of the supposed mayor, but she figures that this is the norm now in the wasteland cities. 

“Good. you stay cool, and you'll be part of the neighborhood.” he leaned in closer, eyes narrowing “so long as you remember who’s in charge.” he turned around after tipping his tricorn hat, sautering off to the state house behind him, leaving her stand alone over Finn’s body. 

She took the caps off him, shaking her head. 

“I need a drink, christ” she kicked him out of her way and walked off towards the ally Hancock entered from, dogmeat following at her heels. 

Through her wandering she found what looks like the entrance of a subway with a bright red neon sign that said “The Third Rail” , it sounded like a bar if she ever heard of one and slipped inside, the bouncer let her through with little issue only giving warning about keeping the dog in check down there. 

Once she entered the mainroom of the bar she was met by sultry sounds of one of the most gorgeous women she's seen in a long time singing on the small stage in the corner of the room, being watched by what looked like the most drug addled people she's laid eyes on. She smiled at the woman singing and went to sit down at the bar. 

The bartender was a posh sounding Mr. Handy who took her order “politely” and didn't try to keep conversation with her. She finished her first drink while watching the singer on stage move her hips, gilding her hands down her red dress, when she turned back to the bartender to order a second drink it's as already there, taking the drink she raised it to her lips and winked at the signer. Shortly there after Riona felt a warmth press into her side as a chair was pushed aside to allow the singer to lean back on the bar. 

“Names Magnolia” her voice was husky and spoken within inches of Riona's face, She smirked placing the glass down to face her more.

“Riona, how bout we get to know each other better?” Riona leaned back a bit, placing her elbow on the bar behind her, propping her boots on the bar beneath her chair. Magnolia stepped into the space between her knees

“Oh Really? Go on… “ she was leaning on her knee at this point, hand dropping to steady herself there. Riona smirked, she hadn't had this much fun since she was discharged. 

“You. Me. an evening stroll under the streetlights…” she brought her hand to rest on Magnolia’s hand. 

“And then what?” Magnolia moved her hand from just above Riona’s knee to rest higher on her thigh. Riona leaned into Magnolia, bringing her lips to her ear. She made eye contact with a lithe figure standing that the archway of the backroom, they were just staring. She smirked and placed her hand on Magnolia's hip and whispered. 

“Music” she winked at the lithe figure standing up pulling her closer, Magnolia reached behind Riona to grab her coat, pressing into her then Magnolia took the lead pulling her from the bar. 

She woke in the Hotel Rexford. 


	4. Stairs and Bloody Boots

Riona sat down at the bar again, She was working on her Pipboy entering new data and decided she should go to its Diamond City, she's heard there's a detective in town and she's running out of ideas on where to look for Shaun. Dogmeat sat comfortably at her feet, leaning his head on her ankle. She was working on plotting the points on the map of her pip boy when someone slid into the seat next to her. 

She smiled, “Doll last night was fun but im skippin’...” she trailed off when she looked at who actually sat down next to her. He was dressed in a similar manner to her, old military fatigue pants, a duster missing a sleeve, a scarf tucked in neatly under the lapels and a cap with a single bullet hidden in the band around it. She immediately dropped the smile, “whataya want?” she pulled her pip boy out of his sight and leaned back a bit more. 

“Nothing” he turned back to his drink, his face looked roughed up, the stars of bruises forming around his jaw. She continued working on her pipboy till she felt him lean over to look at it. “You from a vault or something? Haven't seen anyone else with Pipboys” 

She glared at him,” found it.” it was short, curt, meant to disengage him but it seems that wasn't going to dissuade him. 

“What are you going to Diamond City for? They're not the friendliest people around” he jerked back when she reared up to look him in the eyes, sneering 

“I'm lookin' for somethin’. What's it to you?” 

“I'm a hired gun, names MacCready. I could help you.” He leaned back on to the bar, he had an arrogance that she didn't particularly like. She noticed the sniper rifle that he had leaning on a chair next to him, she wasn't any good at long arms, particularly any scoped targeting, she performed her pistol and a sword she carried, She thought about it, shes had a few close calls because shes had to dive in head first, and as much as Dogmeat was helpful there's only so much a dog can do. 

“Are you any good? I'm not looking to get shot.” She watched the cocky smile pull at his face. 

“I've been doing this since I was a kid . I know my way around. Now what about you? How do I know I won't end up with a bullet in my back?” 

“You don’t. That's part of the risk, right?” she spun in her chair, placing her boot on the bar of his chair, She stood out in the bar, she was a medium short height with stark white hair, something she woke up to after the cryo-pod, its something she tries to ignore. She's almost always loaded with junk that leaves a faint tingling after her, Her trench coat of torn up at the bottom and swung near her calves when she walked, her face was slightly scarred, deep scratches ran still pink across the corner of her mouth. She kept a bandanna around her neck that was slightly stained with blood that she often filled with when she wasn't pulling at her piercings. He looked her up and down taking in her unusual character. 

“Can't argue with that.” 

“How much for the help?” she started standing up, placing some caps down for her drinks last night and now. Dogmeat stood up with a clatter of claws, she leaned down to fix his bandanna and scratch 

“Price is 250 caps... “ he looked at her again “ upfront, and there's no room for bargaining” 

Rionia looked him in the eye, pulled a small pouch out and filled it with his caps, when she placed it in his hand she jerked him closer eyes never leaving his. 

“You pull any dumb shit and you'll wish you stayed with the gunners. “ she nodded at the patched scar near his hairline then roughly pushed him back into the chair, he just stared up at her and dumbly shook his head before hiding the caps in his duster. 

Riona put a dent in her cap supply before leaving Goodneighbor stocking up on Stimpacks and some rad away. She's yet to injure herself to a point where she'd make herself sick using multiple stimpacks but she has a feeling that the road to diamond city might be difficult. MacCready seemed surprised when she dumped out the majority of her pack on Daisy's counter, filling it with what he called useless crap to purchase the few Stimpacks. 

Riona had to admit that she didn't like walking among the ruined city of Boston, all the talk building set her on edge with the way they creaked in the wind, MacCready looked just as off putting but kept his mouth shut. Something she wished he did when she went to abandoned containers and trash bins to dig through. 

“What are you going to do with all that crap? I'm not carrying it for you” He smirked at her after looking around them towards the buildings, 

“I'm not asking you to. And they are useful you'll see.” she slipped an empty can into her ruck tossing him a look as she carried on point, sword in hand and her eyes occasionally checking her pip boy trying to keep them on track. 

MacCready was about to make a comment on how he didn't understand why she even bothered with the small items like cans when the crack of a rifle firing sounded pieces of the pavement flung up next to Riona. He watched her face turned to steel and her pull up the bandana that was normally settled around her neck, Dogmeat bolted into the alley and he immediately heard screaming. 

Raiders. 

Riona followed Dogmeat her sword raised and electrified, the screaming quickly cut off in a gurgle, more gunfire sounded MacCready could hear it plunking off metal and he hoped it wasn't from her chest plate as he steadied himself on the rusted out shell of a car, trying to make quick work of the riflemen on the balconies above them, once they dropped he rushed to take their position. Riona was fighting at the bottom of the stairs MacCready was trying to get to, she was being backed up further on to the stairs, He could she something in her snap as the Raider tried to slam brass knuckles into her, she shoved the hilt of her sword straight into her nose and with a snarl she snatched the Raiders jacket lifting them up and threw them down the stairs leaving them sprawled out on their backs to which she dropped down onto them with a wet crunch spattering her and the ground around them in crimson. She walked away unphased. 

Dogmeat had run by them out into a more open area which looked like the main camp to clamp down on the arm of a harnessed Raider dragging him to the ground it took only a few seconds of MacCready scrambling up the stairs for him to get a head shot on the Raider Dogmeat had pinned. 

They made quick work of the rest of the Raiders. Blood spattered Riona, her hair speckled in red that she looked at distastefully. She looked up at the perch MacCready was in and shouted to him. 

“Cready! Start searching for them!” She already had the two closest to her stripped and left without any valuables. She heard Cready whistle behind her. 

“You think you could of taken it any harder on her? She doest even have a face anymore” He called out to her, clearly impressed, he pulled off her knuckles and slipped a few caps out of her jacket pocket. 

“Ya needed up there and I wasn't about to be cornered. She shoulda thought of that before backing me up there” Riona snickered as she pulled a Stimpack off a sniped Raider. She made short work of stripping the base dropping a moderate size pile of chems down between where she dropped her ruck, a few syringes of med-x and psycho clinked together, and she dropped an inhaler of Jet down as well. “No wonder they were so hyped up, coulda killed an elephant with what they had here” 

“A what?” Cready knelt down next to her as she was repacking her ruck, fiddling with the caps he dropped on the pile. She looked up at him in a brief moment of confusion. 

“Uh.. I don't know how.. Don't worry bout it it's not important. Keep the caps” she took the junk from his hands shoved it into her bag and tossed it over her shoulders straightening. She pulled her bandanna down leaving a clear division between the gore and smooth skin. She looked down at the dog frowning at the amount of blood on him. “Did cha' have to make a headshot so close to im’, hes soaked.” she rubbed a piece of semi clean fabric over his face. 

“Don't hear him complaining” He dropped the caps into his pocket standing up. “You ready to hit the road again?” he raised his hand up to the horizon for a moment, stacking his other on it before mumbling. “We probably got about an hour and a half before its dark, we might be able to get to the tunnel if we push and don’t hit any trouble” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all are liking this so far! I always look forward to comments or suggestions on how this could go! Also I don't know how long I can keep updating this regularly with Uni but I should catch some time over the upcoming breaks


	5. Dog bites

Instead of the tunnel, they made it to Layton Towers instead. Unfortunately, the tower had a minor inconveniences of a small group of strung out raiders but fortunately Dogmeat had signaled them before encountering them. 

With her bandanna pulled back around her face she turned back to MacCready, Riona didn't think the cramped spaces of the tower was the best place for a sniper but he just looked confidently back at her when she gave him a questioning look glancing down at his rifle. She flicked on the battery for her sword feeling the haze of it from the serrated blade. 

“Just be careful with your shots” and with that she moved into the building. They made quick work of the towers leaving a bloody path behind them, and with Dogmeat that their helm they found nearly all of the raiders before a group had managed to split them leaving her by herself and Dogmeat with MacCready who shouted that he would catch up. 

It was the last room that she had entered, it just seemed like a pre-war bedroom, it had seemed relatively safe until she stepped in and something barreled into knocking her on the ground. A rabid attack dog snapped at her neck, only staved off with her constant grappling with the dog, she could hear more movement within the room but was more occupied with trying to get the dog away from her. Riona currently had gripped both of the dogs jaws and was fighting trying to keep it open, teeth digging into her palms, she couldn't reach her knife and the movement in the room started to sound more and more like drugged out maniacal laughing. 

“Cready’ for the love of anything! Get over here!” She could already hear his scrabbling from a room around the corner. The raider had stood up and was swinging a pip towards her head, it connected with the floor next to her, and she started to lose the fight between keeping the dog from her neck. Something barreled into the dog knocking it on its side and off Riona, She heard MacCready shout for her to stay down when the loud bang of his rifle went off behind her. 

The raider dropped, their pipe clattering to the floor as it connected with the ground with a wet thud, the raider was missing its head. Riona pulled her knife from her belt and killed the half mauled attack dog, flopping onto her back. She tilted her head back to see MacCready lowering his rifle, shoulders heaving with labored breath, his nose was bleeding and his hat was skewed. 

“Thank you” it was quiet, barely audible

“No problem” he walked over to help her up, gripping her hand he pulled her up, she cringed and a frown twisted her face as she looked down at her cut up hands. He whistled looking at her hands “that's a nasty one.” and he was already working on pulling out bandages and a vodka bottle Riona insisted that they kept for antiseptic. She just walked over to the edge of the bed and sat down letting MacCready clean up her hands as she zoned out looking over at the dead dog. 

She doesn't know why killing the dog bothered her so much, she's killed mongrels before with no problem, but this one just looked like a normal dog more or less. It just bothered her. MacCready had finished cleaning her hands and wrapping them in a bandage, he tightened his grip on her wrist and stood up fixing his clothes before tending to the bodies in the room. 

While he dragged out the corpses she worked on getting something for them to eat from her pack, she built up a small stove near the window on cinder blocks and made some soup from what she had saved from her last trip to a settlement. She silently handed him a bowl and left to clean herself up in on of the mirrors she had found when clearing the building. 

She tried to wipe the red from her face with a spare cloth but was finding it near impossible with how much there was that she gave up and just hoped that diamond city would have some sort of facility for her to use. She walked back in with red smeared more or less around her entire face, and only made a goofy face when MacCready pulled a look at her. 

“Not looking much better hot shot,” She worked on setting up her bed roll on the mattress and turned over to him before lying all the way down. “Could you take the first watch? Please?” She sounded drained and was already curled around Dogmeat before he could even respond. Not that he minded though, he was going to insist she slept first after how upset she had seemed. 

He himself took the time to clean himself off a little bit before morning, fixing the bloody nose and patching up a few cuts. He also managed to collect most valuables off of the bodies, coming out with a handful of caps, a cleaner shirt that he cut into bandages and 2 stimpacks to add to their minor collection. 

He let her sleep through the night. 

When morning came Riona was surprised and mildly upset that he let her sleep through the night in whole. 

“It's not safe for only one of us getting sleep-” she was ranting at him as they cleaned up their hideaway,

“I'll be fine. It's not the first and won't be the last. Just let it be.” he grumbled at her. “Could of said thank you,” he muttered as he stepped out of the room putting his pack on, He met her outside the tower and ended up taking point. 

Riona and Dogmeat followed closely keeping an eye on the radar of her Pipboy, but fortunately they ended up at diamond city without any more hassle from the day before. To Riona’s surprise Diamond City was in the baseball stadium at first but it started becoming humorous as she met some of the guards who were dressed in the flimsy leathers of catchers and carried baseball bats. 

“Haven't been to diamond city in years but i'll tell you nothing changed.” He seemed mildly annoyed walking in to the city hearing all of the commotion of the busy shops. 

“I have seen this many people all together in a long time, you think they'll have a place with good water?” She walked up next to him. 

“The dugout will, but aren't you looking for something here?” He looked down at her “seemed pretty urgent back at the third rail.” He watched her face darkened, a look of grief wash over her face momentarily before stealing. 

“I cant get info looking like this, no one is gonna talk to me, you can already see the looks they're tossing” She glared at a shop keeper that was giving her and Dogmeat a dirty eye. She walked off following the signs to the Dugout. 

She got one room looking over at MacCready and shrugged “no point in wasting the caps” and walked over to room two, immediately dropping her pack digging for soap down at the bottom and a change of clothes. 

She walked into the washroom, locking the rickety door and started filling up the cracks enamel tub. She peeled off her armor dropping it in a pile near the tub her clothes following. She stopped the water before it was more than a few inches and washed her clothes the best she could, and wiped down some of her Armour. Water turned from clear to a murky crimson that swirled before she drained the water, raised her clothes and hung them up. 

The water was cold, almost icy on her skin as she sunk into the depths of the tub, and she scrubbed almost obsessively scrubbed at her skin and lathered some suds into her hair. She went through a whole ritual trying to get as clean as possible before the icy water became too much. 

When she stepped out of the water was almost as dirty as before, she scowled draining the water. She dried off and redressed. Walking out of the washroom she found MacCready asleep leaning against the backboard of the bed, his cap tilted over his eyes, dogmeat curled up next to him. She stood by the window finger brushing her hair trying to estimate the time. She figured it was close to the evening, it was kind of late when they got here, having walked slower as to not be detected by anything they could have crossed. 

She was cleaning her hand again when she heard him grumble something and roll over onto his side, knocking off his hat. Shaking her head she finished off her bandaging and stood to collect his hat setting it down on the table next to him. Dogmeat propped his head up looking at her, his fur was still blotted with blood, and she whispered to him. “You’re next dog,” 

Riona left the room to go down to the bar, figuring that she might get some information on who might be able to help her find her baby. 


	6. Start of a fire

The sun had just started to warm the sky when Riona moved off the couch in the room and started to collect her armor and dried clothes from the restroom. She cleaned up Dogmeat as best she could without completely soaking him and sent him to wake up MacCready. 

“Hey! Dog! Get off!” She heard MacCready screeching and caught him fumbling to his feet as she entered the room. 

“Folks round’ here said there was a detective in town, Mr. Valentine a cross town” Riona was finishing attaching her armor as she spoke, MacCready just grinned and collected his items Dogmeat following at his heels as they all made it down to the city center. It took them a small bit of wandering till they found the neon pointing down a narrow alley. 

She heard rustling around and furniture being scattered about, she pressed her ear to the door and heard a woman in a frantic panic. She glanced over at MacCready, drawing her sword and stepping into the small office. 

What she found was a woman tearing the place apart like a chicken without her head, but no one else was present in the room. 

“Uh ma’am, everything okay?” Riona lowered her sword and pushed the muzzle of MacCready's Rifle as he entered the office behind her. The woman startled sharply moving to look at them making a quick judgement. 

“You gotta help me, my Boss, the detective is missing. He's working a case on a kidnapping case, Skinny Malone’s gang took a young woman he tracked the gang to park street station, there's an old vault down there that they use as a base. I told Nick he was walking into a trap, but he just smiled and walked out the door like he always does” she was clearly distressed and near tears as she was speaking, Riona didn't even think twice about agreeing to help her find the detective, Riona probably needed this man as much as this woman did. 

“Doll, I'll find him, but why don't you tell me your name so I can tell him who sent me?” Riona put her sword back on her hip and tried not to look as intimidating, MacCready grumbled about having just been nearby and why we needed to help him, Dogmeat shoved his weight into the sniper causing him to stumble. 

The woman blinked at her, seemingly surprised at how quickly Riona accepted, she was silent. “Ma’am I'm Riona this is MacCready” she pointed at them both before looking back at her unexpectedly. 

“I'm Ellie, I'm his secretary, I would come with you but someones gotta clean up this mess.” She turned to start cleaning up the office before she tossed some stimpacks their way. “Don't you go dying out there too, bring him back” 

“Well get ol’ Nicky back for you” MacCready grumbled behind her and started for the door, taking the stimpacks into his pack. Riona followed closely after him. 

“Why don't you ever want to help people?” Riona asked, it was clear in her tone that she doesn't approve of his attitude. 

“Why do you charity work?, I could help you find what you're looking for without trying to find Nick.” he tugged his cap down and started back towards the gateway of Diamond City. 

“Because you don't look qualified to find people, and why are caps so important to you anyway? I'm already paying you and you get half of what we find.” 

“Don't worry about it.” He sped up his pace, walking away from her. She scowled and moved in front of him, jabbing her finger into his chest forcing them to stop near the gate. 

“Don't you dismiss me. I hired you, if you get in my way ill cut you lose and then your precious cap stream i'll’ be gone! This is too important for you to be an ass Cready’.” She stared at him. He shook his head and almost stepped pass her before meeting her eyes again. 

“I left someone behind and they need it.” his eyes darted away and he pulled his duster closer to him. “The vault is back near Goodneighbor” 

Riona took the lead, pulling up the coordinates on her pipboy marking so she could follow it on the radar. It was silent between them on the way to the vault, Riona took the most direct way there and they had to clear out about three raider camps, they arrived and it was clear that Riona was in no good mood, tired and bloody from traveling there. MacCready was going to suggest trying to find a place to camp out before entering the vault but Riona just threw the doors open to the subway not even looking back. 

The subway station was filled with Malone's goons, and traps. It took them a moment to make it through the first room as MacCready had to cover her as she disengaged some traps and collected the small parts. But once the room was safe for combat it was like a switch flipped in her mind, her sword hummed as she cut through the goons, she barreled through multiple men with sub machine guns, her armor absorbing what she wants to be able to avoid, and where she did neither she never even flinched.

When she found the vault door she froze momentary, flashes of having to enter 111 and what happened there coming to mind. It was only a moment but MacCready noticed, stared worriedly at her and was about to say something when Riona shook her head and opened the door with her pipboy, anxiously waiting for the door to swing open where she could enter. 

Once she crossed the threshold of the vault a shiver ran up her spine at the dimly lit and half built vault. But she was back in action as a triggerman rounded the corner, shouting firing a pistol, it struck her shoulder plate. She snarled before taking the head off his shoulders with her sword, MacCready made a disgusted sound as warm blood splashed on her. 

Through her wandering she found the overseer’s office, guarded by a dumb looking man who was yelling through the door at someone behind the door. Riona ducked back behind the corner and looked over at MacCready. 

“Cready’ could you get that please.” her voice was falsely sweet, almost as if she took the nearing death of the guard humorous. He nodded and peaked around the corner, it took him seconds to silence the guard and go hear the thud as his body hit the ground. Riona clasped his shoulder before wal king over the door. 

“You the detective?” She called through the door. 

“Yes, and who do I owe the honor too?” his voice was rough, she looked through the window and meet golden eyes, She started on the door trying to unlock it. 

“Riona and MacCready, your secretary sent us. Said you've been missing a while.”

“I've been cooped up in here for weeks. Turns out the runaway daughter I came here to find wasn't kidnapped. She's Skinny Malone's new flame, and she's got a mean streak.” He backed away from the door as it opened and they entered. “She got worried didn't she?” 

“Yeah she was tearing the place apart when we got there.” MacCready reported to him, Dogmeat giving an affirmative boof. 

“I assume you didn't just come out of the goodness of your heart now did you?” The more Riona observed the Detective it became obvious that he was one of the synths that everyone had been giving her warnings about, but he was dilapidated, wires and exposed metal apparent in holes and tears in his synthetic skin. 

“I'm looking for someone. They were kidnapped by a mercenary, I need help and was told to find you when I was in town. Went an awful lot outta the way to get to you, so let's hurry this up before we get swarmed, i'm sure people heard all the commotion when we broke in” Riona didn't even wait for a response from Nick, she just walked out and towards the exit, she had noticed the floor plan of this vault was similar to the one she came from, though hers lacked an atrium, she supposed you didn't need a congregation area when all your guests are frozen dinners. 

When they entered the exit hall, they had been met with muzzles pointed at them. Riona quickly judged that that they were too close to even survive at this range. A fat man dressed like a stereotypical gangster from the ol’ time and a dame to match stood at front, with two triggermen guarding their back. 

The man she guessed was skinny Malone spoke towards Nick, having ignored both her and MacCready, who had not yet entered the room. Riona tuned out the conversation between Nick and Malone, instead trying to figure out how likely they would make it out alive from the vault. She had lowered her hand to bury it in the scruff of Dogmeats neck when he walked up and stuck himself between her knees defensively. She could feel her undershirt starting to stick to her abdomen, she felt a sharp sting on her left and she realized her time of rampaging the vault she must been struck. She tried not to focus on it but it was near impossible after things had calmed down from the previous combat. She only was brought back to the conversation when she heard a shrill voice interrupt, angrily. 

“Skinny why don't we just kill em’, it be real easy” Her voice stuck a cord in Riona, and she felt her lip pull in a twitch and turned to look at her. She had a bat that she kept swinging and edging closer to her. Riona reared back when she drew her bat too close for comfort nearly buckling her knee doing so, Dogmeat let her lean on him. 

“Nick, seems like talking isn't gonna work.” She snarled 

“Why don't you shut up lady! Ain’t nobody talkin’ to ya.” 

Riona raised her sword back up, the humming of the electrified blade filling the room as it went silent, she pulled up her bandana across her face. Skinny raised his gun towards her, the room erupted as MacCready’s rifle range across the room. Skinny dropped and his dame was next as the sword sunk into her gut, Nick had pulled out a pistol and took care of one of the triggermen, Cready’ caught the last one in the thigh and Riona had finished him off. 

She pulled the bandanna down and let MacCready collect caps after she nodded to him. She fained helping him but instead took a moment to bind a crude bandage to her side that was slowly seeping more blood. She handed Cready some of the items she pulled off a trigger man and met his eyes. 

“Thank you.” She pulled her attention back towards Nick. He wasn't in the best mood, clearly written on his face. 

“I had that, there was no reason for that. Coulda bought that girl back home” 

“Dames like that don't change, you were right she had a mean streak, I just took care of it for you.” He sighed and led them out of the vault. 

“I suppose I owe you at least, no telling how long I would have been locked up in there. Once we get back to my office I can take your statement and help you find who you're looking for.” 

“We gotta find a place to rest first, traveled all the way through from Diamond City to get here. We should stop back at Goodneighbor, it's not that far from here” MacCready spoke up after slinging his rifle on his shoulder and glazing over to Riona who was looking pale and started to sway. He made eye contact with her and she just shook her head, and straighten. He took point leading them to Goodneighbor, her and Nick had chatted for a little before she fell quiet trying to put all her energy into just making it back to Goodneighbor. 

When they got the Riona had almost all of her weight on the oversized dog, MacCready stood nearby. Nick had gotten them two rooms as a thanks for saving him, and when he disappears into his room and they made it into theirs she nearly collapsed on the ground only to be caught by MacCready who helped her over to the couch. 

“Was there a reason you felt the need to wait this long to take care of this? Or tell anyone?” Cready was stern as he addressed her, already digging around her ruck to find the small med kit she carried, he’d have to clean up the wound before using a stimpack on her to ensure infection wasn't trapped in. 

“It wasn't safe, I was fine-” her nails dug into her palm as he poured the remaining liquor on to her wound, she could feel some of it soaking into the cushions under her adding to her discomfort which was soon was amplified to a near shout only covered by his hand over her mouth as he dug for the bullet lodged in her still. He was half sitting on her to keep her down and unmoving on the couch trying his best to be fast about it. 

When he was done Riona was pale sweaty and out of breath, she was floating in between consciousness. A stimpack helped it close over a bit more when he was done cleaning the wound, and once it was bandaged he lifted her from the couch to move her over to the bed trying to slip her out of the rest of her armor. 

Dogmeat had climbed up onto the bed and curled up next to her, and he couldn't tell if she was just compact or if the dog really was that large. Regardless he tucked her into the bed and looked down at her thoughtfully before shaking his head and leaving the room. 


	7. Caught to a flame

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey just to let yall know there is a bit of in game lines from the interview with Nick at the start of Getting a Clue

When they woke up Riona looked Ill, she was pale and didn't stand confidently. Her normally proud stocky stance was sloughed and sluggish. MacCready had pulled her to the side. 

“Look I know things are a little rough between us right now but please just be careful, we can hold up heart for another day if you need.” He spoke in a hushed tone not trying to draw the attention of the people putting around the front of the Rexford. She looked down and readjusted her sword on her hip.

“Cready’ it's not really an option right now, especially when we have the detective with us, I'll be fine.” she walked past him out towards the gate of Goodneighboor, greeting Nick as they headed towards Diamond City. MacCready looked down at Dogmeat who whined up at him before trotting off to keep up with Riona, he kept the rear of the formation as they traveled allowing Riona to set pace with her being injured. 

It took them a little bit longer to get to Diamond City with Riona walking a bit slower, But they took the time to fill Nick in on her situation with her injury and to catch up in general. Though they all kept clear of talking about who Riona was looking for, saving it for when they entered the Nicks Office. 

Ellie had met them at the door of the Office and immediately hugged Riona and MacCready for bringing back her boss, and she slipped a small pouch of bottle caps into her hand. Riona passed the bottlecaps over to MacCready when they were out of sight of Nick. He had hugged Ellie and went to the upstairs portion of his office. 

“I'm gonna take a moment to get cleaned up and I can start your interview Riona” He called down to them, Ellie had gone back to puttering around the small office organizing some files out of what seemed to just be habit. 

Riona turned to MacCready and was talking in hushed tones. “Do you can actually find people?” 

MacCready shook his head in minor amusement “I don't know how he does it but Nicky can find just about anything so long as he has a scrap of info, its like some freaky talent.” 

Riona just nodded and watched as Nick came down the stairs and motioned them all over to his desk, 

“Okay so who are you looking for?” Nick Valentine sat across the desk from her, Ellie with a notepad in hand ready to jot down notes from the interview. MacCready was leaning against the back of her chair, rifle slung over his shoulder and a cigarette in hand. 

Riona looked down at her lap fiddling with a leather cord around her wrist, before stealing her nerves. 

“We're looking for my son, Shaun. He's less than a year old. Why would anyone take him?” She tried not to blurt out all of the questions she had stewing in her head over this, she dwelled over this almost her entire time she was helping the minutemen, and Nate's murder and the loss of her son haunted her dreams. Nick looked surprised and she heard MacCready make a sound of concern before taking a long drag of the cigarette blowing the smoke towards the ceiling which Riona watched spiral and thin out into nothing in a nervous silent as she waited for Nick to respond or continue with the interview 

“A good question. Why your family in particular, and why an infant? Someone would be taking on all of his care, and a baby needs a lot of it.” He had leaned over towards Ellie to make sure that she was writing it down. “Anything else?”

“There was a man and a woman. They didn't say much, but I remember they called me "the backup”, Back up i don't even know what that means but he tapped the glass and just taunted me.” 

“So we're talking a small team. Professionals. The kind that know to keep their lips tight when they're on the job. Not sure what "the backup" means though…” He took a cigarette out himself and taped it on the table.”where did this take place?”

“We were in a Vault when it happened. Vault 111. It was some kind of cryo facility.” Riona pulled at the leather cord tight against her wrist increasingly getting more nervous as this continued. She didn't know if he would help her find Shaun, and she wasn't sure MacCready would want to keep helping her after what she knows of the commonwealths opinion on vault dwellers. 

“You were on ice, huh? More importantly, you were underground. Sealed up. That's a lot of obstacles to get through just to take one person.” He started to look through some files as if he wasn't fazed by her being a dweller but she saw Ellie pull a face and she did want to know MacCready’s opinion right now. “Do you have anything else you can tell me? Anything you think might help us find Shaun?”

Riona took a deep breath, and for the first time in her life she wished she smoked, instead she had to settle for the plumes of smoke curling from behind her that started to hold her interest instead of pulling at her wrist. 

“They came in, the man was the only one not dressed weird, the others looked like they had been in white hazmat suits. When we woke up in the pods it was like being in water, ice water, sluggish near impossible to move and extremely claustrophobic. The Mercenary had opened Nate's pod and started pulling Shaun from him. It was like something had taken over me and the sluggishness drained out of me, I beat my hands bloody and tore my throat raw screaming and trying to escape. He just needed to keep the mercenary away from him till I got out, the glass had been cracked, but the mercenary pulled a gun on him and that coward just froze! He didn't try to fight or even run, instead he gave my baby to some dangerous stranger! They shot him dead and shoved his collapsed body back into the pod gore seeping from the bottom only stopped when they refroze us. But not before he brought Shaun in front of my pod, taunting me and said ‘back up’.” 

Riona had gone completely stiff, lost in the memories of the vault. She refused to meet anyone's eyes, but she felt a hand on her shoulder and she heard Ellie cooing at her from across the desk. Nick looked absolutely upset, but he seemed determined to help her, he was filing through the files he had placed on his desk.

“So we're talking about a group of cold-hearted killers, but they waited until something went wrong to resort to violence.” Nicks voice was sympathetic, “That confirms it. This isn't a random kidnapping. Whoever took your kid had an agenda, Hmm... There's a lot of groups in the Commonwealth that take people. Raiders, Super Mutants, the Gunners, and of course, there's the Institute.”

“So you think this Institute is responsible?”

“Possibly, the boogyman of the Commonwealth is much more real than people would care to admit, and they're not above kidnapping as we've already seen that. Could you describe what the people looked like, at all?

“The woman was dressed in hazard suits. The man had some sort of metal brace on his arm, he was the one who came up to me he had a bald head, scar across his left eye.”

“Wait. It couldn't be... You didn't hear the name "Kellogg" at all, did you?” Valentine pulled a single file from his stack and placed it down in front of them closed. 

“I... might have... everything was foggy…”

“Ellie, what notes do we have about the Kellogg case?” Ellie scrambled through the front part of her note book. 

“The description matches. Bald head. Scar. Reputation for dangerous mercenary work, but no one knows who his employer is.”

“And he bought a house here in town, right? And he had a kid with him, didn't he?”

“yeah, that's right. The house in the abandoned West Stands. The boy with him was around ten years old.” Nick led over to Ellie then, speaking quickly and hushed to her. She nodded and stepped out of the room out into Diamond City. 

Nick turned back to them after watching Ellie leave. “I didn't want Ellie to hear this, but I think you should know. Everything I dug up about Kellogg before his disappearance is bad news.He's more than just a mercenary. He's a professional. Quick, clean, thorough. Has no enemies, because they're all dead... Except you.” He chuckled at that, and lit the cigarette he had been tapping on the table. “But nine to one odds says he's our man. It's more than just you identifying his distinguishing features. The MO is all him as well. Leading a small team to kidnap a baby, and leaving one of the parents alive for later? Not many mercs in the commonwealth can pull that off. And then to return to set up a family with a child? It takes a special kind of bastard to do that. 

“The child has to be Shaun! He has my baby and we don't know where to even look for him.” Riona didn't notice how close she had been crying until then, her throat was tight and her eyes stung, she was leaning into the hand on her shoulder just trying to keep her composure. 

“Don't jump the gun on me. You said you were looking for an infant, remember? That's over nine years difference by my count.” He was stern with her, and she nodded, She understood how illogical it was but after waiting for months and now get a lead its all she could do was think about reuniting with her baby. 

“Look, maybe he has a son of his own. Maybe it's someone else's kid. Either way, they both vanished a while back.” He started to collect the papers. “Doll you're injured, at this point another day isn't going to change anything, why don't you go rest up and we’ll go check out the abandoned house tomorrow” he paused before looking above her to MacCready. “And you make sure she actually rest no need for her breaking and entering.” he pointed at her after she had started to say anything, her mouth snapped shut and she nodded collecting her items to leave. 

“Riona, I'm sorry this is happening but we’ll find your son.” Nick shut the door on them. 

It took them a few minutes to get back to their room in the dugout, it was silent between them but MacCready stood close. Riona collapsed on the bed and buried herself into the blankets. 

“Cready’ I think I'm gonna take the bed” she covered her head in the blankets and curled into a small ball and was already shaking from tears when she felt something laid over her and a hand pressed to her head a moment, she took a moment to relax and to process everything she was feeling. And between the emotional exhaustion and the combat from yesterday she had passed out almost as soon as the hand was removed. 

“Don’t worry bout it’ partner.” 

MacCready was flipping through the pages of a comic they had picked up during their travels, He was on the opposite side of the mattress that Riona had curled up on propped against the headboard, his cap was on the desk, his duster covered Riona further in her blanket puddle. Dogmeat sat curled in the only other chair in the room. 

He was about to lie down himself when Riona had started twitching and breathing harshly, he stilled for a moment trying to see if she would settle down herself. Her twitching turned to thrashing as she became tangled in the blankets, she was shouting for Shaun desperately, tears starting to trickle down her face. MacCready tried to free her from her entanglement, when she came close to shocking him, shouting coward. He grabbed her hands and tried to put them down at her side, he moved his grip to her shoulders half leaning over her. 

“Riona! Riona you gotta wake up!” He shook her just trying to get her to stop, his grip on her shoulders kept her from thrashing but he was concerned when she just went limp and her heard her sobbing. She reached up to cling to him which he allowed, adjusting his position so that he was next to her and pulled up the blankets back onto them. She had buried her face into his neck and was shaking from the sobs that wracked her body. And for that night, he clung to her too as he realized he might be stuck here for the long run. 


	8. Into the fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all so sorry for the late update, things got busy with finals and traveling and unfortunately when coming back hope I shipped my computer and it was severely damaged in post and I've had to rebuild it. But that should be up and running soon, currently I've borrowed my mothers laptop to finish for y'all.   
>  Also I wanted to say that I've added a set of armor into the story that is personally my favorite in game through a mod, when I get my computer back online Ill post what it looks like so they yall have a better idea, buts its the Ranger armor that you would find in Kellogg's home.   
>  Anyway Happy Holidays !

MacCready made sure to be up and out of the bed before Riona woke up, not wanting to have to figure out his feelings at the moment. He didn't quite understand what he got himself tangled into and he figured he'd deal with it when this problem was resolved. MacCready pulled his cap back on and took the dog outside with him as he went to light a smoke, leaving behind his duster as so it didn't seem he bailed out. 

He was leaning against one of the posts outside watching the bustle of Diamond City even before the sun had risen all the way. Dogmeat had settled down at his boots, leaning against this legs watching the people, MacCready was watching the curl of smoke rise above him. Riona stepped out from behind them, both packs in hand and his duster over her shoulder. She passed over his pack and duster and slung hers over her shoulder. 

“Are you ready?” Her voice was harsh, clearly still torn up from crying, her eyes were dark and her hair was messy compared to her normal no strand out of place bun, instead the bun was half out and was loose at the base of her neck, snow white hair falling out to frame her face and was pushed behind her ears. She must have fallen asleep with it last night and neither of them had noticed. 

“Sure thing” He crushed the cigarette on the post and shrugged on the rest of his gear. “Nick wants us to meet him at his office” He started taking the lead, Riona trailed behind him watching Dogmeat weave between the both of them. 

Nick was exiting his office as they got here, tugging his faded fedora down and pulled the lapels of his trench coat closer, it was noticeably getting colder over the past week. 

“I'll lead the way.” Nick turned from them and started down the alley towards Kellogg's house. It took them a few minutes to get there, Riona had sent Dogmeat a head to keep him from her feet and she glanced around the small group she had. MacCready was adjusting his scarf that she previously hadn't noticed, and looking over at Nick there was a distinct lack of breath curling from him unlike the rest of the group. Riona was slowly starting to regret was that she was currently wearing but settled to deal with it at a later time. 

They approached the stairs and catwalk leading to an older looking door, Nick tried the handle jiggling it before huffing in frustration. 

“We’re going to need a key.” MacCready had opened his mouth to object when Riona walked up to the door and knelt pulling a bobby pin from a pocket along with a screwdriver and jimmied it into the locking mechanism it took her mere seconds to get it open, standing with a small swell of confidence before she realized what they were about to walk into.

“I didn't know you could do that! We’ve traveled together for how long? And you've never done that?” MacCready sounded surprised and jokingly bumped into her his tone friendly. 

“Don't you worry bout’ that” she swung the door open and pulled her sword from her hip. “After y’all” She gestured for them to pass in front of her, Dogmeat trotted in happily while Nick tilled his hat to her with a comment of how he could use her skills. She closed the door after MacCready and stepped into the dusty residence, the light coming to a flicker. 

The home was more of a metal tin shack, built mostly with metal barn siding which was almost completely rusted, paper and some wood covered the flooring and sparse furniture covered the room. It hardly looked liked a place for a kid to grow up. There was a lofted area with a low ceiling with a mattress covered in threadbare sheets, in short the place looked pitiful and sad. It filled Riona with dread that a child was raised here. The desk was the most amount piece of furniture in the room and the most stable, it was built of a heavy wood that's managed to last the years and it was covered in papers, though most too old to make use of anymore or useless to start with. 

Riona was close to leaving in frustration at finding nothing that seemed to be helpful to them until Dogmeat started scratching at one of the paneled walls. MacCready had walked over to inspect it closer. 

“Riona, this looks like it could open” He called over his shoulder as Nick came closer to it. 

“There's probably a switch somewhere in here” 

Riona started scouring the room looking for anything remotely like a switch or mechanism to open the door. SHe quickly sound the button hidden underneath the desk after she crawled under it. 

The panel opened with a rattle and it grated against the floor as it opened to let them in. The moment she entered the room she left ice hit the bottom of her stomach and felt a shiver run up her spine. The room was clearly a torture area and arsenal. It was clear that it was in use and likely that he used the facility during his time “raising” the stolen children. Riona just shook her head in defeat before entering and inspecting the room. The was a lawn chair propped up in one of the filtering lights of the room, a table and a cigar tray sat on top of it. 

She dismissed it upset and continued searching and at this point looting the room. He’d have no use of anything here left abandoned so she would. She was crouched down working on a safe lock when Nick exclaimed. 

“San Francisco Sunlights? That's an awful rare brand.” He picked up the cigar and rolled it in his hands before leaning down to Dogmeat having him sniff it. 

“You think that dogs will be able to trace that? Do you have any idea how long this place has been abandoned Nick?” MacCready stepped away from a rack of rifles on the wall after swiping a scope. Nick just shook his head. 

“You’d be surprised at how well this dog can find things.” 

Riona turned from the safe, sat plum on her bottom legs splayed out on either side of the safe looking up at Nick. 

“How wouldcha’ know?” She had an extra bobby pin tucked into the corner of her mouth. 

“You're not the first one to encounter this dog, he's a man of his own.” He left it at that waiting for her and MacCready to clear the room of any goods they saw fit. 

It took her a moment but she worked the safe open and exclaimed in excitement when she pulled out one of the Ranger Uniforms she’d only seen on the most elite forces. Upon further inspection of the uniform she saw it was decently modified and had the boot, helmet and mask. She was nearly shaking with excitement when she pulled it out and showed it off to the others explaining what it was. 

“You're gonna keep that right? I don't think you'll find anything nice again.” MacCready was enthused at the find as well. She nodded vigorously having forgotten her normally stoic behavior, all she could think of was the war heroes of her time who got to wear a uniform like this. She insisted on putting it on before they left to follow the trail that Dogmeat had traced. 

She stepped out of the metal home in the well fitting clothes. She had on the heavy metal chest piece on two bandoliers where strapped on the front of that, a tactical belt held her sword and a few other gadgets, thick boots added some height at sounded heavy when landing on the catwalk, a high collar leather trench cloaked her, metal was wrapped around her forearms. And the Cherry on top for her was the helmet and the mask with an intimidating red glare from the eye protection, which was currently hanging from her belt, the helmet was strapped to her ruck, not wanting to leave it behind but not wanting to wear it right now. 

She was absolutely beaming, and MacCready took the moment he had to look down at her. Her white hair was a stark contrast to the mostly dark leathers and fabrics, she still looked tired but the glow of excitement settled a pleasant feeling over him. He coughed and back at Nick. 

“Are you ready?” They both looked over at Riona who suddenly seemed to come back to the situation, MacCready was just glad to have seen her take a moment to herself. She nodded soberly and commanded Dogmeat to lead the way, she followed after.

They had not followed the trail for long until they had found a small little sitting area under an umbrella table with another one of the San Francisco Sunlight Cigars, Riona took it and bent to allow Dogmeat to sniff it again. He took off running again and after following bloody rags to the entrance of Fort Hagen. 

Riona looked up at the solid building, it was clearly extremely defended, and getting in was going to be difficult. She looked over to Nick and MacCready who both already had weapons drawn, and both looked mildly anxious. She tried the front door to get in and it was locked, she grimaced and looked around before heading off to where she thought she could in time through an exit door in the underground parking lot. 

They crowded around the door, she could already hear skittering around in the building. She looked over to the both of them and nodded, and reached for the mask. It covered her from the eyes down, similar to how she used to wear her bandanna, her voice was modulated when she talked and all MacCready could think of was how intimidating she looked like that. 

"Yall ready?” She pulled on Dogmeats collar who wiped excitedly, MacCready clasped her on the shoulder before stepping back and adjusting the sites on his rifle. “Then let's make this short.” 

She threw the door open and everything broke into chaos. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope to update as soon as possible, I'm always looking for feedback or suggestions. IF you don't like hoe this is going feel free to comment and Ill take it into consideration in the future. Also If anyone would like to Beta these that would be radical just let me know.   
>  Happy holidays y'all


	9. a dead end?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! so I wanted to apologize for the late uploading, i've finally fixed my computer and with my time in the airport yesterday ive wrote two chapters, so we can expect another update soon!  
> I do want to preface this chapter though that if descriptive violence isnt your thing I would be careful reading this chapter, it is a fight scene and arguably one of the more gruesome and gorey ones ive written.  
> regardless I hope you enjoy this one and I can promise the next chapter will be a bit fluffier

Once she threw the door open, a turret dropped down from the ceiling, laser rounds almost taking her out immediately, She dropped down to the ground and rolled out of the way so. A rifle round fired behind her and the turret clattered to the ground. She struggled to collect the helmet she had strapped onto her ruck, but once she secured it around her head she took off, mask glowing a glaring red.   
She encountered the first set of synths, they looked clean but inhuman, only mimicking a skeletal build. Her sword buzzing with electricity made quick work of the synths dropping them in seconds before they could let off enough rounds into the hallway. She heard Nicks pistol firing behind her, she hadn't noticed that the hall split when she had rushed in and noticed even less when another squad of synths entered the hall and she was shoved into the wall, the butt end of a rifle slamming into the bridge of the mask, crushing it against her nose which she felt give and warmth spreading.   
With a snarl she kicked the synth away from her and to the ground, boot connecting with the chest plate of the synth crushing it below her, landing her other foot she crouched low her blade swinging and catching multiple synths near their center, a shot stuck her chest plate and she stumbled backwards into the wall again helmet bouncing off the concrete. She could taste the copper in her mouth, her head was buzzing and vision was blurred momentarily, She could she the last synth in the squad raise its rifle at her and she tried to raise her self from the wall, could hear the metal scraping against it, and she reached for her pistol strapped to her hip but before she could bring it up another shot rang out from down the hall.   
The Synth collapsed like a ragdoll, a rifle round through the forehead. She was struggling to rise all the way. Dogmeat had reached her first and nearly knocked her over again barreling into her legs but MacCready had pulled her up from her elbow.   
“Thank you” Her modulated voice and mostly covered face made it extremely difficult for MacCready or Nick to tell if she was okay. He had opened his mouth to scold her for running off without them but a voice on the overhead had called out to them egging Riona on.   
“Now there she is, the most determined woman of the commonwealth.”   
“End of the line! Kellogg! Its time you’ve died and I get my son back!” She shouted towards his disembodied voice.   
“Who? Oh, that bratty kid? What was it? Shaun? Oh lady you're in for a real surprise!” He was half cackling taunting her. Her face twisted up underneath her visor, teeth bared and her voice came out harsh when she spoke again.   
“Where is my son you bastard!” Her voice was clattering into the empty halls, reverberating and in a way it felt as if her own voice was taunting her.   
“Why don't you come find out huh?” It was a clear trap, and it was obvious he didn't think she would survive to reach him.  
Whatever control that had remained in Riona quickly vanish as she snarled at tried to barrel down the rest of the hall, but MacCready’s grasp on her elbow pulled her back.   
“Now you get control of yourself, can't go off in here by yourself you’ll get yourself killed.” Nick was gruff with her.  
“Plus you can't destroy turrets on the ceiling with that sword” MacCready tightened his grip on her elbow tugging her a bit towards him.  
“I could get close enough.” She pulled her visor off with her free hand to spit the pooling blood from her mouth.   
“Like hell you could,” Both Nick and MacCready spoke in tandem.   
“You'll need a sharpshooter like before, we’ll get him Riona but you gotta live to get their first” MacCready let go of her arm and she shook her head.   
“Then let's go.” She wiped her nose on her hand and clicked her visor into place.   
Dogmeat took the lead with Riona following behind, MacCready had his rifle raised to take out any turrets before they activated, and with Nick’s help took out the majority of squads that they encountered before Riona went barreling in outnumbered.   
They had reached a large office after roaming the halls, it had a sealed door connecting it which even Riona couldn't get unlocked, much to her anger.   
Kellogg's voice filtered down from the overhead   
“It's not too late to stop! You can go home, not a lot of people could say that!”  
“You and I both know that's not happening! Open the door, you coward!”  
“Okay! My synths are standing down, why don't we just have a chat huh?”   
The doors swung open and Riona was seething, MacCready could clearly read it in how she held herself, Dogmeat was snarling hackles raised as high as they could go and he was couched down at her feet, she burst into the room quickly assessing it.   
It had multiple synths lining the room, and the man that was in the Vault stood in the middle of the room, he looked more rugged and tired than when she had seen him through the haze of the cryopod.   
The moment she entered the room, it was like a chill fell over it, she stood square in the doorway, and it was obvious her patients were nonexistent at this point.   
“Tell me where he is.” it was calm, collected and deadly. Kellogg smiled   
“Well now if it isn't my friend the TV Din-”  
“Tell me where he is damn it!” She cut him off bringing her sword back into view in front of her, her thumb fingering the switch to electrify it.   
“Fine, I guess you’ve earned that much. Shaun's in a good place, where he is safe, comfortable and loved. A place he calls home, A place called the institute.”   
She pointed her sword at him from afar, emphasizing her words as she spoke.   
“Fuck you, Kellogg, where is he really? Huh? You gotta baby locked up in here?”   
“Let him go! Your time is done. Your son ain't even a baby! Your son is exactly where he belongs.”   
She stepped towards him reaching the edge of the platform, MacCready and Nick had readied their respective weapons, the synths in the room still passive but it was clear they were still as dangerous as before and guaranteed to strike if she was any more aggressive.   
“Then you’re going to take me to him.”  
“Take you to him?” he was laughing “Lady I can’t even bring you to him if I wanted to. It's the institute. Don't you get it? That place is untouchable, nobody gets there unless they want you there.”   
“Well if you don't have him, then I guess you serve no purpose to me anymore.” Riona took the step down, her boots landed with a resounding thud, the room was silent until she flicked the batterie connected to her sword back on.  
She raised the blade and brought it down on where he was standing, but in the moments it took her to ready the blade he has disappeared with an electronic hum.   
“The fuck?” she was boiling over, she crouched low searching the room for him, she didn't understand what had happened, or where he went. “You were right fucking here” she swung out wildly and decimated a synth that had escaped from Nick and MacCready.   
“It's a stealth boy! He's invisible” MacCready called out to her momentarily breaking from attacking the synth guards.   
She felt something slam into the back of her head, she stumbled forwards losing balance. Dogmeat rushed past her and collided with something it looked like he was trying to grab the air. It took her a moment but she started to see the rippling outline of a figure momentary struggling with the dog before a yelp had it released.   
Got you now. Her blade connected with something and there was a clatter as an electronic tumbled to the floor. Kellogg reappeared in front of her. He struck her across the face with his pistol before she had a chance to gut him, Her head was buzzing and her vision was starting to blur together at the edges, she grunted and brought the pommel of her sword into his jaw. He threw himself into her knocking them both down, He was tearing at her visor as she grappled with him, she could feel blood leaking down her forehead from where his pistol stuck her.  
He tore the visor off of her face and tossed it away, he was practically sitting on her his thumbs edging closer to her eyes, he grabbed the lapels of the coat that covered her chest plate and brought his fist down into her, helmet coming off. She swore as she in a last ditch attempt rolled him over so that she was on top, and that was the end of Kellogg. She snarled and watched pure fear twist his face as she grabbed the collar of his shirt and slammed him into the concrete floor, once, twice, three times, she didn't stop until it there was no more gunfire, and his brain and other gray matter painted the floor and her face.   
When she stood up she took his pistol and fired into his chest, emptying the cartridge. When she looked up, both of her companions were staring, Nick clearly looked disturbed and MacCready just looked astonished, Dogmeat was cowering under a desk.   
To MacCready she looked like a war goddess, enraged and bloody, gore and sweat mixing together. An Aura of strength and rage filled the room when he looked her in the eyes. She was clearly battered and was having a difficult time breathing, she turned away from him first.   
She picked up her helmet and visor from the ground, she looked over at Dogmeat who was slowly coming out from under the table. Her face momentarily crumpled at the sight of him afraid, she regretted losing control in here, in front of her companions, she had no idea if any of them would want to assist or follow her after this, it was clear that she could be wildly dangerous.   
Shaking her head she pushed her way past them and out into the office, collapsing on one of the couches in here. She heard MacCready saying he’d search the room.   
She was dizzy, her head felt like it was spinning and her stomach was turning, she had emptied the contents of her stomach into an empty container near her and sprawled out onto the couch clutching her head in an attempt to keep the room from spinning anymore than it was.   
Riona didn't know how long it took them to search the room when they came out, but once they did they immediately started talking at her.   
“This might have gotten easier.” Nick held up what looked like an implant.”Kellogg had some modifications and with decent luck and the help of the memory den in Goodneighbor we should be able to get some more information.”  
She didn't respond to him and instead sat up, planting her feet on the ground leaning onto her elbows on her knees.   
“If Shaun really is in the hands of the institute I have to find that place and rescue him. But I'm going to need help if y'all are up to it.” She spoke more to her boots than she did to them, she was mildly surprised when she felt MacCready’s hand close around her shoulders.   
“I'm still game” He smiled when she looked up at him, her eyes big it was clear she expected him to leave after this.   
“You'll want to talk to Doctor Amari when you get to Goodneighbor, but I think we’re all going to need to rest up before we head off.”   
MacCready raised his hand to Riona to help her up off the couch and keep her steady.   
“We found an elevator to leave” He slung her arm over his shoulder and pulled her closer to him placing his arm around her waist, supporting her so that she wouldn't collapse, Dogmeat trailed behind with Nick as they entered the elevator.   
When they exited the elevator on the roof they were met with a horrible cacophony of engine sound, vertibirds and a blimp started to cross the sky. The ominous airship and vertibirds darkened the sky as they crossed. She couldn't make out the paint on them but heard MacCready huff. When she turned to look at him, it was clear that this sight wasn't a good thing.   
“The Brotherhood has arrived.”   
The dread in his voice was clear and it sent a shiver down her spine, it seems like this already poor day just got worse. 


	10. Days of Repair

When they entered Diamond City again the arrival of the brotherhood was the only talk of the town, everyone seemed upset about their presence in the commonwealth, but Riona had never heard of them or even seen them until now.  
Nick parted ways with them at the dugout and declared them to stop by when Riona could walk on her own.   
MacCready at this point was supporting almost all of her weight, she looked terrible, gore was smeared all over her face and she was hardly conscious anymore near delirious with her dizzy. It was clear that she was badly concussed and would need to address her injuries when they got a room. MacCready and Nick hardly took any damage during the assault on Fort Hagen, Riona typically drew the most fire so their own injuries had been near misses or bruises. He shook his head and scooped her up into his arms, carrying her into the dugout and into a room, Dogmeat had returned to his typical dopey dog routine and curled up onto the couch.   
“You gotta stop doing this doll,” he muttered as he placed her down on the bed, and started rummaging through her ruck to find the medkit. He pulled out three stimpacts and a medx that she had.

He gave her a quarter of the medx before he shot her up with three stimpacks, hoping to knock her out before the effects of high doses of stimpack made her nauseous. It momentary concerned him when she passed out so fast but when he brought his hand to her nose he felt her breathing. He went to the restroom and wet some cloths and loaded one with alcohol, and went about trying to clean up the blood that smeared her face, the gash on her forehead he deemed would have to do with just bandaging because he didn't think he could handle stitching her up at this moment.   
He was trembling as he cleaned her up inspecting her wounds, he started to realize how close she had been to overdoing it. He set her nose and bandaged that and slowly worked on pulling her out of her armor and leather, he noticed the large dent in the chest plate and pulled her shirt up to see the blossoming of bruises on her ribs, frowning he pushed on them slightly to determine if any had been broken, but quickly stopped when he heard her whine in pain at the action.  
Once he had gotten her out of armor and mostly cleaned up he pulled her out of her gore covered clothes and dressed her in spare clothes she kept in her ruck. He tried his best to clean up and untangle her hair before adjusting her on the bed tucking her into the blankets, laying his duster over her and patting the spot next to her to have dogmeat with her. He hoped that she was out of it enough that nightmares wouldn't wake her up like the night after the interview.   
It was fortunate that she was so drugged out because if she had been any more conscious without a doubt she would have stayed asleep, already having rolled onto her stomach clutching the pillow beneath her.. MacCready had cleaned himself up but had worked himself into a tissy about how much he had given her, that when he laid down next to her he kept a hand on her back to make sure she was still breathing.   
It was a long night for MacCready and had only just fallen asleep when she jerked awake and emptied her stomach into the bucket that he had placed by her, immediately he was up next to her pulled her hair back and helped her lie back down, she clutched her head and he brought over a cool cloth placing it down on her forehead.   
"Thank you” it was small and weak but he heard it when she spoke, she leaned into his hand when he placed his hand on her. Frowning he absentmindedly ran his fingers through her hair.   
“Go back to bed, it'll be okay.” She nodded and curled in on herself eyes unopened. He climbed back into bed and was up for the majority of the night, only sinking into sleep when Riona had turned over, laid her head and hand on his chest, he curled his arms around her and pulled up the blankets on them.   
He doesn't know what time it was when he woke up but he knows she was still fast asleep on him, he ran his fingers through her hair playing with it until she grumbled and stretched out.   
He slipped out of her grasp and encouraged Dogmeat to move closer to her before he stepped out of the room. He went to collect noodles from the bar out in the commons for them to eat, and when he reentered the room Riona was just sitting up, adjusting her hair to sit nicely after having been down sleeping. She smiled sleepily when he handed her a bowl of noodles and thanked him.   
Her voice was rough and raw, most likely from screaming yesterday, and the hot broth helped sooth it.   
“Riona, you gotta be more careful when we're out. It's no use if you die before you save your son.” He sat on the couch and tried not to sound like he was mothering her but he was so worried during the assault when she took off at it still hasn’t gone away. She frowned, her face twisting up and she turned from him.   
“I know. It's just hard. He was so small when he was born, I didn't even want kids, he wasn't even Nate’s but he decided a kid could save our marriage, all it did was build resentment, but when he was born it was like something shifted and all I needed to do was keep him safe. And I let damn Nate hold him in the vault and now he's gone. It feels like everything is slipping again and I can't take it all the time. I thought we had him yesterday and it was all squandered when Kellogg didn't have him.   
I've never felt that angry in my entire life, not even in the army programs with their chems. And I know I gotta keep it under control but it's so damn hard.” She was staring down at her bowl, watching is swirl as she spilled out her emotions, it was clear she was embarrassed and didn't want to look at MacCready.   
He was silent for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts and trying to determine if he was going to tell her about Duncan when it was already spilling from his lips.   
“My son... He’s sick. I don't know what's wrong with him. One day he was playing in the fields behind our farm the next he took fever and broke out in blue boils. Last I saw him he was too weak to walk. I didn't dare ask him to come with me.” he paused looking from her to the walk next to him. “I know it's different than what's going on with Shaun, but I want you to know you're not alone.” He stood up and made to leave pulling his cap back on and adjusting his scarf.   
“Can you come here?” Riona reached her hand out, waiting for him to take it when he did she pulled him to settle on the bed tugging his cap off and running her fingers through his hair. “Thank you.” she was momentarily bleary eyed and narrowly focused on carding through his hair.   
“Why did you leave the capital wasteland if he's still back there?” She leaned back against the headboard and let MacCready lay his head on her lap, still running her fingers through his hair, she spoke in low tones and was looking towards the window in the room.   
He took a deep breath and held it for a long time, she had started to tell him it was okay that if he didn't want to answer.   
“No its fine, I'm looking for a cure for him. I had met a man named Sinclair who said his friend had the same confliction had mentioned that there was a cure around here.” he had stopped himself from speaking, as if he didn't want to divulge information he held close like he didn't want to get his hopes up, He tugged at his scarf. “It doesn't matter, I ran with the gunners for a while and left abruptly can't do anything with them on my back all the time.” he had pulled back his hair to show a scar in his hairline, something she had momentarily forgotten. She looked back down at him and pulled his hand away.   
“Why don't you just kill them?”   
“It's not that simple, I would have to destroy the entire wing base… It's not something I can do by myself.” The fell into silence, he had closed his eyes and was lost in memories of other things he couldn't do. Riona still ran her fingers through his hair and had moved her other hand to be curled into his scarf, she was surprised that they had allowed themselves to be this open with each other. The last person she had held like this was a girlfriend when she was still in the army and honestly couldn't remember if she ever held Nate like this. But she was determined not to lose this connection with another person. And it's likely the main contributor to what followed.   
“I'll help you.” it was short and serious, when he had opened his eyes in confusion she met his, he had opened his mouth to protest when she interrupted him. “He's been lost for a long time, a little more isn't going to change anything at this point. Let me help you.” she turned away from him clearly ending that conversation.   
They had spent the rest of the day in the room, both unwilling to leave the unspoken comforts of each other. 


	11. Things left unspoken

As soon as she was able to function without feeling extremely nauseous and could breathe without the ache in her ribs she left for Nick Valentine’s office.   
“Nick, it's going to be a little bit before I continue our investigation, I just.. I can't right now. I-” her voice cracked and she looked at the door frame she was leaning in refusing to look at Nick at that moment. She felt him place a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.  
“You take your time, its a lot. Come back here when you’re ready.”   
“Thank you.” it was whispered before she turned away from his office, she tried to walk with her normal confidence but it was clear she was starting to crack again. She felt weak. Like when she had just exited the vault, it took her a long time to collect herself and glue composure back together. She just wanted to go back before things had started to fall through.   
She steeled herself before she entered the room again. She had been fixing her armor before she had left, she could hear the water running in the restroom.   
She spent the majority of the time collecting and packing her ruck, and she had finished equipping her armor when MacCready had stepped out of the restroom dressed and damp towels in hand.   
“Where are Winlock and Barnes anyway?”   
“Mass pike interchange, they’ve set up on the old overpasses.” He started packing up his own ruck and had swung his newly cleaned rifle over his shoulder. “It's probably a day worth of travel”   
Dogmeat had gotten up from his spot on the bed and was now standing near the door wagging his tail anxiously looking back at them. Riona shook her head in amusement at the dog.   
“I guess we’re starting now.” She double checked her equipment and opened the door.   
The market place was surprisingly busy for the time of the morning it was but It was still manageable to maneuver, they were just about to leave before MacCready insisted on stopping to collect more medical supplies.   
“We went through a lot the last time we went out, should get more.” He went off with Dogmeat for a moment and Riona sat down on a fence trying to plot out the best way to get to the interchange, she had decided to avoid going towards the west tunnel of the interchange because it was likely collapsed. She was still working on plotting out their path when they had returned, MacCready was looking over her shoulder leaning on the fence she was perched on, She tipped it towards him to show their path.   
“Figured we could go up north, then west to take the bridge than to try going through the tunnels.” She looked up at him expectantly waiting for him to give feedback.   
“Looks good Boss,” He said with a smile and pushed off the fence waiting for them to leave.   
They traveled with relative ease until they hit a portion of the city MacCready had called hangman's alley. Riona grumbled, they would have to clear this before they could continue, She tugged on her helmet and put her visor in place before flicking on her sword.  
They both could hear a firefight going on in the near distance which set them on edge.   
“Cready’ watch our back” She was already crouched down by one of the doors to enter hangman’s alley, trying to unlock the chained doors. Once they swung open it the alley broke into chaos.   
There was a guard post right next to the door, she immediately climbed up onto it and gutted the raider that stood post there. She could hear others running from their dilapidated shacks, and hear one or two yells in the signature psycho high. Dogmeat had bolted in after her and crashed into another raider, pinning them down on the ground, Riona had made short work of the entrapped raider.   
MacCready had taken out a raider that was perched upon one of the roofs, that was taking aim down at Riona. Of which was currently fist fighting a psycho raider, it took mere seconds for Riona to lose her patients with the raider who had managed to disarm her. She had kicked his legs out from under him and slammed his head into the workbench that she was previously pinned against, a curtain of red dripping down from it and her face splattered.   
It was a relatively short battle and one that only Riona had managed to come out dirty. But she was excited to continue their journey, she was excited to have an attainable goal, something physical and something she knew the outcome. So when she took off her visor and helmet she was beaming, s look MacCready hadn't seen on her before.   
“You just like killing' things dontcha?” he knocked his shoulder into hers, she pushed back and looked up at him.   
“I'm just glad to be getting stuff done.” she placed her visor and sword back at her hip, before biting her lip and looking away from him fiddling with a strap on her shoulder. “We should only be going north for a little bit more.”   
It was relatively quiet for being in the outdoors, occasionally Dogmeat would bolt off to collect some items that Riona hadn't seen. It was a peaceful kind of silence that had become rare in the commonwealth and even rarer when if you traveled the commonwealth often. Riona had decided to start flicking through the radio stations and had settled on the diamond city radio, which had been playing jovial songs.   
“I wonder how they managed to find so many different songs after the bombs, their tapes had been hard to keep before.” She was just saying what floated off her mind at the moment and occasionally humming along. MacCready seemed momentarily surprised before looking down at her again.  
“What was it like? Before the bombs?” He tried to sound nonchalant, not wanting to dive into her past and make her uncomfortable. She hummed and pulled on the lapels of her coat, it was becoming the time of year that she would expect to see snow soon, her new coat and armor doing little now to defend against the chill.   
“It was… Different. It wasn't violent near our homes or in our towns but it felt like it could happen any day. There were supply shortages all the time for the home front, almost everything had been pushed to back our military. Cars couldn't drive, there was no fuel for anything that wasn't deemed important, and the fusion cars that are left on the roads today were too expensive and hard to obtain. We were waiting for the shoe to drop...I was apart of the Army before. They had just started a real campaign into fusion power, it was powered the majority of what we had left, it was introduced into schools and hospitals which had been important enough to keep power. Our armor was powered by it, and it was mostly what our group troops had used.   
I had joined when I turned 18, it was in the middle of the riots in Canada, almost immediately after my training they sent my unit to the Alaskan front. I couldn't tell you how long we were there on that front but I had finished my first contract on that front. I was a little less than two years into my second contract when I was sent home, pregnant.   
I was forced back home. I hated it. Back to Nate, a coward. He thought it was a good thing, glad that I was pregnant, even though it wasn't going to be his. He thought a baby would fix our marriage. We never should have gotten married in the first place, he was nervous when I had joined, and when I came home from basic he insisted we get married.   
He got to enjoy the creature comforts that my service rewarded, the home in Sanctuary, and easier access to supply. When I got home I had taken up needlepoint just trying to forget what I had seen and to forget who I lived with. It all felt like a blur at that point.   
When Shaun was born it was like a little light had been brought into my blur of life, I poured everything else I had at that point into caring for him. He wasn't even a year old when the bombs fell when he was stolen.” she was silent, and pulled at her fingers, adjusting anything that her hands could find, anything to avoid looking at MacCready after her likely oversharing. She hadn't thought of before in real detail until he had asked, it was something she had never really wanted to delve into when there were other things to do. She frowned, it was deep, her brow was furrowed. “I'm sorry, you're not here for a life story, it was chaotic before, difficult to navigate, this, today is much easier to manage.” It was short, stern and not really open for anything else.   
“Riona, I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories or upset you.” He was soft spoken, something which surprised Riona entirely, she met his eyes and noticed how incredibly worried he seemed momentary, he seemed extremely stressed out about the whole scenario at this point. She didn't like it.  
It was silent once again before she pointed out that they had to start traveling west on the road they had met. Dogmeat had found a large stick that he was dragging along the road and kept bounding between the both of them. She was smiling once again, as she picked up a smaller stick and chucked it for the dog, Of which bolted after it leaves the small tree he was dragging behind. Dogmeat had crashed into her when he returned with his stick, knocking her off balance and nearly to the ground when MacCready had caught her. She laughed lightly as she straightens, collecting the stick to toss for dogmeat.   
“Thank you Cready’” it was like playing with Dogmeat had taken years off of her, the normal scowl marks and stern face had melted into a warm smile.   
It was MacCready’s turn to throw Dogmeat's stick when he had bounded back towards them, When he looked at Riona she was fixing her hair, pulling it from the messy bun into a braid that hit on her mid-back.   
“How old are you?” it came out thoughtlessly, slipped from his tongue without a moment of thought put into it. She looked up at him, eyes wider than normal. He was beet red and was stammering an apology.  
“25, I think. Give or take a few hundred years” She chuckled at that and bumped into his side. “Cready’ it's not that big of a deal, don't worry bout’ it.” She had half a mind to laugh at him, she had no idea he could get so flustered over something like that. “How old are you then?”   
He looked strained for a moment, deep in thought and she thought he wasn't going to answer her until he spoke. “22” She was surprised, it was only three years but she would have guessed that he was at least her age or older, with how stressed he looked all of the time. She supposed a life out in the commonwealth would do that to you though.  
“Oh, I didn't expect that,” she laughed, trying to lighten the mood again. He smiled   
“What? You expect me to be old like you, huh?” He had a grin growing as he looked down at her. She feigned offense, pressing a hand to her chest and putting a haughty look upon her face.   
“Well, I'll be! I'm not old! You're just jealous” she was laughing fully leaning against MacCready as they walked, it had fallen quiet again, songs from the radio slowly filtering in. Dogmeat had joined them again and was currently struggling between carrying his throwing stick and another small tree. She had checked the map on her pip-boy, they were probably a few more hours out.   
They walked close for a while, she was worrying her lip again when she let out a small huff and wound her arm through his without saying a word, she had a slight blush graced across her face, which only deepened when she felt his handset on top of hers.   
They stayed like that, undisturbed on their travels to mass pike interchange, they stopped about a half hour out to set up in an abandoned shack to rest through the night. 


	12. set a blaze

Riona woke MacCready before the sun rose above the horizon line, it was incredibly dark the room only lit by the green glow of her pipboy. She had taken the liberty of packing up the majority of their camp before waking him, she was antsy to get this done, to solve a problem, this was a quick fix in her mind and she just wanted a win. 

“I'll be outside,” She whispered before stepping out of the shack, Dogmeat followed her out and had started jumping excitedly around her. She supposed he was getting antsy too after having been cooped up while she recovered from her last gallivant into danger. 

“Let's get started” MacCready had stepped out next to her with a minor grim look on his face. Riona nodded and looked down at her map, they were pretty close to the interchange and she expected a ground base connected to the raised base. 

It was a short trek, only about a half hour which was spent in mostly silence. It was her understanding that they were about to face a small army, normally she would be more confident but the fact that Cready was so on edge was bothering her. 

“Look. Cready’ are you okay?” She placed her hand on his shoulder just before the ground base came into view. He glanced away from her and up to the interchange, a flash of dread came across his face. 

“Just a bad feeling.” He pulled his rifle off of his shoulder looking back at her. “It'll be fine, it's not like we haven't done a job this big before.” He gave a weak attempt at a smile then took the lead not giving Riona a chance to speak, she frowned and slipped her visor on. 

They reached as far as they felt they could reach without being detected, sprawled on their stomachs they had a clear view of the lower base and the lift system to reach the interchange, she frowned. There was clearly no more cover in base, once they left where they laid there they would be in the open, and she didn't use rifles as well. It was evident that the best way to clear this would be to separate, allow her to get up close and for MacCready to clear out as much as he could be fore she reached them. 

“ How many do you think you could take out from here?” She spoke in low tones in case there was an unseen patrol. 

“Almost all of them right now.” 

“Good. Distract them.” She slid out of their cover, edging backwards to round to the other side of the camp. He grabbed her wrist before she was completely gone. 

“Be careful.” she nodded and pulled her hand away, and watch his face steel for combat as he turned away from her again. Dogmeat travelled low following her. 

When she reached the other side of base she started to edge out of her concealment, she whistled and pointed at thee closest gunner. Dogmeat bolted and slammed into the gunner who let out a shriek which was quickly silenced by Riona’s sword. She heard a shot ring out and watched a gunner drop like a bag of potatoes off the guard post. The lift raised away from the ground base. 

With a snarl she ran towards a gunner near the control panel, tearing them to ribbons. Another shot rang out and a gunner behind her dropped. They had been the last one on the ground base. 

She was digging around the small buildings that made up the base waiting for MacCready to appear, she new going up on that lift would be a death sentence without backup, there was no way that they hadn't heard the firefight down below. 

“We gotta teach you how to use a rifle” his voice floated over her shoulder, he stood behind her leaning against the door frame of the building she was in rummaging through one of the drawers. 

“Maybe.” She laughed and pushed past him, walking over to the platform. “Once this gets up there we need to bolt, there's no way they aren't waiting for us.” She kicked open an ammo box on the platform and smiled. “Or we just take cover.” she bent down and picked up a grenade that was sitting in the box. He we caught a glimpse of what was in her hands he smiled, she pushed it into his hands. “Just make sure it's thrown before the platform stops.” 

They stepped into the platform, Riona immeadly crouched down against the short wall covering her neck, Dogmeat settled between her knees pressing his head to the ground, she pressed the button for the lift to activate. It rattled on the way up, and she watched MacCready intently who was readying to lob a grenade, he gave no clue that he was about to throw it, it was a sudden thing. One moment he was kneeling and the other he had assumed the same position she was in and the lift swung with the force of the explosion mere meters away from them. 

She called out in surprise when the lift swung outwards and immediately reached out for MacCready’s arm just trying to steady herself, he moved his hand on top of hers in a tight grip. It took a few moments for the lift to settle and to continue rising. She squeezed his arm before letting go rising to spring out of the lift when it reached its height. 

The moment it got to the top she vaulted herself over the siding of the lift and rolled onto the interchange. She took a quick glance of what remained up on the base. She could see someone in a power armor frame, another official looking gunner, an assaultron and only a few remaining grunts. 

She immediately launched herself at the assaultron who was recovering from the explosion the fastest, she attacked the joints of the Assultron knowing she could breakthrough the plating on the automaton. She had hated assaultrons whens she was in the army, they took too long to down and could wipe entire squads in moments with its laser. Its claw hand grasped her arm and pulled, Riona lurched forward with the force and crashed into the assaultron. She was frantic trying flailing her pistol, she could hear and feel the heat of the laser charging up, at this close there literally would be no way she would survive a strike like that. 

“Riona! Hold still!” she heard MacCready call out to her over the din. She froze and closed her eyes and stood stock still, she could feel the heat rising and the claw on her arms tightened. A shot rang out and the assaultron sputtered, the bullet passed directly through the charging head, it had loosed its grip on Riona and started calling out error codes. She pulled out her pistol and empty it into its chest plate and she didn't stay long enough to see if it stopped moving. 

MacCready made quick work of the grunts and the only ones left where Winlock and Barnes. The one in the frame had moved towards her, she squared her feet and blocked his first swing at her, the electrified sword sent a jolt through his frame and he screamed out in pain before it twisted into rage and he swung at her again. She jumped out of the way and thrusted her sword through one of the gaps near his thigh, piercing it through, he partially crumpled, the frame working to keep him up. It took mere seconds for her sword to relieve him of his head. 

At the same moment she heard another smaller caliber shot ring out and a distinctly MacCready sounding shout raised above. She turned to see him crumple clutching his leg. She was too far, too far to get to him, to far to kill the gunner with her sword. 

“Hey! Bastard!” her sword clattered to the ground as she lunged towards an abandoned rifle, the moment she had it in her grasp she brought it up and fired it towards him, the first two shots had missed whizzing past him. But the third stuck his shoulder, he grunted and took aim at her instead of the downed MacCready, she ducked behind a dislodged jersey barrier. A few rounds bit into the cement, she waited still there was a pause before she sprung out again firing into the much closer gunner, once he had gotten close enough she turned the rifle around and slammed the stock into his nose, and kicked at his feet knocking him over. She stepped onto his chest and brought the stock down again through his head. 

She stood there breathing for a moment pulling the visor away from her face, her chest heaving. She heard dogmeat whimper and she turned to watch him press his nose into MacCready's face. 

“Cready!” she ran over to him. He was trying to push Dogmeat's snout out of his face, his movements were weak and he was paleing. He looked up at her when she entered his line of sight, and a smile crossed his face. 

“Hey,” he tried to speak but was quickly shushed by Riona, who was scrambling for her med kit. 

“Where you shot anywhere else?” she quickly ran her eyes over him, the most obvious wound was the shot through his thigh. He shook his head and tried pulling away from her. She pushed his shoulders back down roughly, she had pulled a tourniquet from her kit. She glanced at his face. 

“I'm sorry.” she moved to in between his legs, and knelt on his leg on between the fleshy part of his thigh and his hip, sliding the tourniquet up his leg and tightening it above the wound. He cried out hands grasping into her jacket. Once she had it set she wrapped a bandage over the wound tightly and pulled his fingers from her jacket. She stood up and pulled him up partially, Dogmeat coming to his side allowing MacCready to lean against him. She checked her map again looking for close settlement or shelter. She cursed when she realized the shack that they had stayed in the night before was the best they could do right now. She tugged his rifle over his shoulder 

“Look it didn't go all the way through I can't give you a stimpack, I promise you're going to be okay.” She spoke fast and didn't give him enough time to process what she had said before she grabbed his forearm and his leg pulling him up onto her shoulders, He yelped and dropped his head and she was worried he had passed out but she couldn't stop to check. Dogmeat ran to collect her sword and they moved to the lift and activated it. They traveled back downwards and she was getting antsy again, it was taking too long for them to make it down. 

The moment she could step out of the lift she was off, keeping a steady pace to make it to the shack, Dogmeat was slinking between far in front of them to her side, keeping watch. She felt MacCready move, he pressed his hand into her lower back supporting it the best he could, she almost laughed she was surprised that he was conscious enough to know what to do and she took comfort in his consciousness. 

“We’re almost there Cready” 

“Better be.” his speech was garbled and she could feel him shaking. 

Once she entered the shack she put him down on the thin mattress that was left abandoned. And went to re tighten the tourniquet, she cringed when he cried out in pain and tried to pull her hands away. 

“Cready, you gotta be still.” she pushed his shoulders down back onto the mattress. Riona stood up and collected the medkit again, and pulled out some of the bottled alcohol that she had insisted on keeping. She dumped everything out next to him and knelt down, and took the time to clean all of the instruments that she needed. 

Once that was all settled she looked back up to MacCready who was struggling to sit up, she quickly helped him and pulled off his cap, carding her fingers through his hair as she inspected his face, which had a few cuts, She settled him against the wall,

“You know how this goes right?” He nodded and leaned his head against the wall with his eyes closed.

She grimaced and set to work, cleaning the wound before she used tweezers to pull the bullet out, she looked up when she heard MacCready produce a low whine, his face was twisted up and was likely close to drawing blood from his lips. 

“Im almost done” she was pretty sure her fell on deaf ears, it took her a small entering to find the bullet and finish cleaning and closing up the wound but when she was done she administered a quarter dose of medx and a stimpack. 

MacCready was significantly out of it while she cleaned up his face, and addressed her own minor wounds. He had settled into sleep once she had set up his bed roll against the wall, so that she could sit at the head against the wall and keep watch on the door. 

She was cleaning her pipboy as it approached the dark hours of the evening, its sickly green glow lighting up the ever darkening shack, MacCready had fitful sleep almost the entire time she was on watch, and he had started again. He curled in on himself and had reached out for her hand, which she abolished but his face was still twisted in pain and mild panic. She frowned and drew up the blankets on him more, but when that had not helped, she moved closer and drew his head onto her lap and carded her fingers through his hair, he gripped her hand tighter but eventually seemed to calm again. 

She looked down at him and felt the anxiety settle down on her, its icy fingers latching on to her insides and she wondered whose touch was comforting who at this point. 


	13. Escape

Riona woke to distant gunshots. She had to untangle herself from MacCready before she could step outside to try to figure out where it was from. She heard another shot ring out and knew it was from the interchange. 

She bolted back inside, it was still dark out and they had about two more hours of darkness before the sun even had a chance to rise. She packed everything they had as fast as possible and sent Dogmeat out to scout the area ahead. 

She had to move them, to leave the area completely. She had finished packing everything up and tried to wake MacCready but he was still out cold from the Med-x she had given him earlier. Frowning she decided it was probably going to be best to head back to Sanctuary, that was at least three hours away but hopefully, it would be mostly clear having been mostly settled down. 

* * *

She gave him the rest of the Med-x that was left, hoping it would keep him out or at least quiet. She put him up on her shoulders and left the shack her sword jostled uncomfortably against her thigh as she took off in a run, her AER 9 clutched in her grip. She tried to keep watch for anything out in the brush that she was running through, trying to say out of sight from the clearings. They had to run north to get to Sanctuary which meant going past the interchange again. 

She moved slowly as the approached near the interchange trying to remain unseen, but she also starred in horror at the ruined gunner base. The bodies that had been left there were strung up with rope hanging down from the interchange of rebar, and all of the structures were on fire. She stood watching for a moment before Dogmeat came running towards her and started urging her forwards. There was no point in staring, what's done is done. 

The wind was picking up as she traveled, Dogmeat had come back and stuck with her now that they were almost two miles out from the interchange, you could no longer hear the sounds of firefights but rather her panting. She had wanted to get them all as far away as they could from there so she had run the majority of it but she was already swaying on her feet. 

It wasn't a good situation that they were in, the wind picking up almost definitely meant it was going to rain and already being overloaded muddy terrain could quickly get them both injured, the only fortunate thing was that most creatures of the night would be hidden away if it started to rain. 

She looked down at her Pip-boy and cursed the distance. If cars had not gone to hell when the world decided to explode they could be there already, and MacCready could have been helped by now instead of being lugged around drugged up. She was in a near nervous fit over the whole thing, she couldn't have another person die because she couldn't get them help, she refused. 

She marched as fast as she could without jostling MacCready too much, already worried about running with him in his condition. She could feel the air becoming thick with rain and hear the trees swirling around them. 

Riona hated storms and it seems like they were about to get a torrential downpour. She cursed and tried to take cover under an overhang of rocks, she managed to put MacCready and secured before it started raining, pelting her unprotected back. She searched for any piece of clothing that would be waterproof and had found an oilskin that was buried at the bottom of her ruck. She took it out immediately and used it to cover MacCready up before they continued on their way to Sanctuary. 

It had only been an hour since they left the shack and it felt like it had only gotten darker, but she continued. She was drenched within moments, her hair was plastered to her scalp and her armor felt like it weighed an extra ten pounds, her leather trench doing nothing to keep her dry or warm. 

The rain was coming down in sheets and she was worried it would turn into snow, the ground was sludge beneath her boots, dogmeat had started to walk along the tree line to take whatever type of protection he could get from the rain. Riona didn't dare get that close for fear of the ground falling into root pits with her movement. If she sprained her ankle doing that there would be no way they'd make it to Sanctuary before it was too late to help MacCready. 

The wind was whipping around them, her coat taut behind her, cold wet air blew into her face and it felt like fire. It was the damn itching of radiation. The sky lit up in sickly green and she saw a tree crash to the ground a few meters in front of them. Another was pulled down directly in front of them, she almost tumbled to the ground trying to avoid being crushed to death by a tree. Dogmeat was howling and darting between her and far ahead trying to avoid falling objects.

“Dogmeat! Go ahead! Make it to Sanctuary!” she yelled out at him, who was currently dodging another fallen tree. He made another mournful howl before taking off at full speed northwards and out of sight. 

She had to get them on to a road, away from more trees, but the storm was only worsening and the cold rain was quickly making any type of movement painfully chill. She was shaking with every movement, but she carried on determined to just get them to safety. It started becoming a mindless task, of second nature to just keep moving forward, to get MacCready help and all she could think of was her old squad from Anchorage and being trapped in her godforsaken power armor. 

Everything felt useless like there wasn't going to be a happy ending to any of this, even if she got MacCready back to sanctuary there was no telling he’d make it, especially with everything going on. He could be dead right now. It was a dark thought, and something she tried to expel from her mind immediately, but with only the storm and trudging forward it was the only thing that kept returning. 

She couldn't risk stopping to check and all of a sudden she regretted giving him another dose of MedX, she would take pained garbling and him being angry than this silence. 

“Cready?” She jostled her shoulders, a vain attempt to check on him. He was silent. It should have been expected but all the dread that resided in her swelled and she couldn't keep herself from silently crying, itching rain mixing with her tears. 

Riona had lost track of how long she had carried them, or how far. It was almost sunrise and she could feel the storm letting up. She tried to raise her arm to look at the pip-boy but found the movement excruciating, she cried out. 

All she could hope for was sunrise, she could determine the direction she was going in at the very least. Her awareness was starting to slip from her, she’d stopped looking out for danger and instead focused solely on getting to the bridge. 

She hoped Dogmeat had made it back and they would have alerted the settlement. She hoped the General would know what to do because she was hopeless at this point. She was convinced she was carrying the dead and her only solace was that she could get him back to somewhere with a little bit of beauty. 

The sun brought faint light and the end to the storm. She was still soaked through but the rising sun revealed just how close they were to Sanctuary. She jostled MacCready again.

“Cready, we made it.” She was crying again, the moment she reached the bridge to the development she collapsed. Dogmeat was already barking up a storm trying to get attention to her and was partially dragging the General by his coattails to her. 

The moment Preston had seen them he called out for help, and Riona closed her eyes taking in the morning rays where she could finally just let go momentarily in the safety of Sanctuary. 

“What the hell happened to you guys!” He was waving down a doctor that had settled down here as he worked on separating her and MacCready along with their gear. 

“Cleared out Mass Pike, he was shot. Couldn't stay.” she was barely conscious at this point, the exertion of her travel starting to take over. “Gave him Medx to keep him out.” Preston leaned over her to examine the red blotches on her skin. 

“Rad Rain. Riona you know how badly radiation like that affects you.” he had brushed her hair back to view her face better. Her face crumpled in distress. 

“He can't die, please, Preston the radiation does matter, he can't die.” she was pleading with him and looked like she was going to be ill. The Doctor had dropped down next to her and she shoved her away. “Him, help him.” and very nearly snarled when she reached for her again, almost lunging at her. Preston pulled her back and nodded at the doctor before he lifted her off the ground. 

“Riona we’ll help him, but you need to be tended to before you get ill.” He was bringing her to her home and quickly called in Codsworth who took over. She was extremely dizzy and could barely stand herself. 

The moment she was settled into the tub and surrounded by warm water she nearly slipped into sleep, Preston had gone to collect supplies for both Codsworth and for the town doctor. 

“Mum, I thought we agreed last time you wouldn't overexpose yourself.” He was hovering behind her helping wash her hair while she haphazardly cleaned up her body. 

“It was important.” They didn't know MacCready, none of them did. She hadn't been here in a long time and especially after the wall she hit trying to find Shaun. It pained her to be back in her home, quiet and childless and while Codsworth didn't mean to upset her he nearly constantly asked about Shaun. 

Once she was mostly cleaned up Codsworth helped her to her room and let her dress before coming back in and insisting that she “lay down for a spell” She was almost asleep burrowed under numerous blankets that he insisted on pilling on to her,

“Codsworth?” she was quiet again, in a whisper. 

“Yes, Mum?” He had turned back to her eyes focusing on her and brought one of his hands to pet her head. 

****“Will you please make up the guest room?”

She knew the doctor's building was small and figured _~~if~~_ when he came to, he’d want somewhere else to stay. Codsworth just hummed affirmatively and stayed with her till she was forced to stop worrying and was pulled into sleep from exhaustion. 


	14. Chapter 14

Riona was ill, the radiation and the cold left her with a cough that rattled her bones, stole the color from hair skin and left her freezing. She was furious. She couldn't stand long enough to leave without her vision going black and she couldn't keep anything down. The doctor kept insisting that whatever she had caught wasn’t serious to literally anyone else and was struggling to treat her. It was like the damn radiation again, she wasn't from this time and obviously didn't have the same resistance to common things. **  
**

She was asleep anytime she wasn't coughing, but it was never for long. Fever dreams and flashbacks drove her near insane. The sound of heavy boots started making her anxious again and the dark was quickly becoming unbearable, but she couldn't stand up and light a candle. Instead she was trapped by her own illness, of which limited her contact with others.

She nearly sobbed when the room filled with dim light as someone walked in, the sound of boots on the ground had her curl in on herself, covering her ears, she was coughing again. She felt the foot of the bed dip and felt someone put warm leather in her hands. Gloves. The general was here. She opened her eyes to see boots set neatly near the door.

“Preston?” Her voice was scratchy and almost nonexistent, she heard a lighter being flicked and a small bloom of light filtered from the night table. 

“I brought you food” he kept his voice low, he helped her sit up against the headboard and fixed a blanket that slipped off her shoulders. She brushed loose strands of hair from her face and she looked down at her hands, shaking her head slightly. He let out a sigh. “Riona you even tried eating since yesterday morning.” he placed a rather small bowl of stew in her hands. 

It was some sort of thicker broth, with dark chunks of meat and small bits of carrots and skinned tattoos, a piece of dense bread leaned against the edge of the bowl. Her spoon clinked against the bowl as she slowly ate, specifically making a point to not look at Preston. 

“Please don’t look at me when I eat.” He hadn't realized she was still saying something. He was worried for her health, but was glad that she was eating. The stew was almost cold by the time she finished eating. She was anxious to keep it down, her stomach had been in knots since she had woken up. He took the bowl from her hands when she started shaking again, another coughing fit coming. She curled up against the headboard clutching a blanket to her pressing her forehead to her knees. 

Preston moved to sit next to her and waited for her to stop coughing, making note to bring her some tea next time he was out. 

“He's awake.” Her head shot up from her knees her eyes piercing his and he could see the tears welling up there.

“He is?” she wiped the heel of her palm against her eyes before taking her fingers through her hair. 

“Yes, you did a good job getting him back here in time.” he shook his head a small smile ghosting his lips. She was crying in full her body shaking with half coughs before she got a hold of herself. 

“I have to see him.” She was trying to get out of the bed and half stumbled having to grab the bed for stability as her vision fades in and out. The ground was cold and it sent a shiver up her spine. Preston was already down and next to her helping her stand straight. She wrapped a blanket around her and dug around her closet to find a pair of slippers. She heard Preston pick up his boots. “Please not in my house.” she turned towards him to see him nod his head in apology. They were about to head out when she saw herself in a mirror. 

Her hair was a mess, it was out of the bun almost completely, her hair hung like a limp halo around her face. Her face was battered, her lip was cut and her eyebrow was too and for the life of her she couldn't remember what caused it. She was pale, dark circles sat under her eye and she had some remaining blochyness from the rain. She was dressed in baggy pants and a thick long sleeve, her blanket wrapped tight around her shoulders. She frowned. 

A gust of cold air hit her face the moment she opened the door, the cold air cut her lungs as she breathed it in, coughing as she waited for preston to step out. He was adjusting his scarf tighter around his neck before escorting her to the doctors building. 

The doctors building was a moderate two room building marked with a sign that hung from a post near a door. It was one of the only buildings fully outfitted with electricity and a fireplace, which is currently close to burning out as the sun started reaching the warmest point in the sky. 

The doctor sat at her desk looking over a notebook, her lab coat was neatly pressed and her hair was pulled up nicely to compliment a basic face, she stood from her desk as they walked in and nodded to her a tight smile pulling at her lips, she looked tired and mildly annoyed. She could hear MacCready being fussy in the other room, complains that he was fine and that she should leave. It was clear why she was stressed. 

Riona just shook her head and pulled her blanket closer to her before stepping into the room with a stern look. 

“Are you really being that fussy to the doctor?'' She tried her best to look stern and angry but couldn't keep a smile from reaching her lips. A tension deep in her chest unknotted and she breathed out, she was glad to see him safe. Even if he was a little battered too, she really must have walked into something in the storm. A smile split his face when he looked up from uncrumpling his hat. 

“Riona!” his hat landed in his lap forgotten as he tried to sit all the way up, she tried her best to help him up but had to turn away to cover her mouth in a coughing fit that left her doubled over and gasping. Preston had stepped into the room and helped him sit all the way up before he handed Riona a mug, something presumably from the doctor. “Wait what's wrong?” Preston had started to explain but Riona stood up straighter, adjusting her blanket and waved him silent. 

“I'm sick, radiation and the cold. Being an antique has its limits with modern illness.” the sarcasm was almost tangible, as she moved to sit at the foot of the cot. She waved Preston out of the room without looking up from the leather cord around her wrist. 

“Are you okay?” She waited till she heard the door shut behind him till she spoke, her voice was teary and she pointedly refused to look at him, instead tried to wipe her eyes without drawing too much attention to it. He pulled her hand from her face and covered it with his other hand, slightly pulling her towards him. 

“Yeah, im okay just banged up.” He spoke quietly and tried to pull her up closer to him, 

She complied sitting up closer to him to where she could lean on him if she wasn't curled up into herself. He was running his thumbs over her knuckles, he could hear her trying to control her breathing trying to regain the solid stone she normally presented. 

Instead her composure started to fall through like grains of sand. “I thought you were dead for so long.” her gasping turned into another fit some cough, “I thought I ODed you, and any effort to get us out of there was useless.” she had started stuttering unable to finish her sentences to finish her thoughts, she tried to pull her hand from his grasp, but he just tightened his grip and reached over and cupped her face raising it to his, resting his forehead against hers his thumbs wiping her tears away. 

“It's okay, we can talk about it later. You did fine, everyone is okay, we’re okay.” She raised her hand to rest on his forearm and leaned into his hand. She tilted her head so that she could look him in the eyes, his we’re teary too and she felt her lips down turn at that, but she had to pull back before she started coughing again. 

She pulled her blanket around her tighter and dug in her pockets for a tissue, she lifted her cup to her lips in an attempt to sooth her throat nearly gagging on the foul liquid. She heard him chuckle down at her. 

“Move over,” he was already making room for her next to him, and she took up the spot carefully of his leg and pulled up the blanket around her head. She could feel her breathing become difficult, she made it a point to face away from him so that she could cough.

She was slowly starting to fall asleep when she felt his arms wrap around her and slightly pull her closer on the already tight cot and interlocking their fingers. She fell asleep to the steadiness of his breathing against her back and him running his thumb over her knuckles again. 


End file.
